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Dr. Bill Feldman

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Senior Scientist Emeritus

Currently resides in NM
feldman [at] psi.edu
Areas of Expertise
Targets: Ceres, Mars, Mercury, Moon, Solar particles/Solar wind, Vesta
Disciplines/Techniques: Education/Public Outreach (EPO), Neutron detectors, Remote sensing, Space-based observing, Spectroscopy
Missions: ACE, Dawn, Giotto (ESA), Lunar Prospector, Mariner 10, Mars Observer, Mars Odyssey, MESSENGER, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Ulysses
Mission Roles: Calibration/Test planning, Data validation, Instrument operations, Instrument PI, Mission Co-Investigator, Mission science team, Requirements generation and flow down

Research Interests

Dr. William C. Feldman has pioneered X-ray, gamma-ray and neutron spectroscopic techniques to explore mechanisms that govern both the similarities and differences between the various terrestrial-like bodies in the solar system as well as the Sun.

Professional History

Dr. Feldman earned a B.S. in Physics from MIT in 1961 and a Ph.D. in Physics from Stanford University in 1968. He was a staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1971 to 2005, when he joined the Planetary Science Institute. He has more than 40 years experience in the analysis and interpretation of solar wind and magnetospheric plasma data with emphasis on solar wind composition, acceleration, transient disturbances, and kinetic processes. He has more than 20 years experience in the analysis and interpretation of planetary albedo neutron data. He participated in the design of seven space plasma experiments, and was responsible for the design of an energetic electron dosimeter (BDD-2) for the GPS constellation, the neutron detector for the Mars Observer Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (MOGRS), and was or is a Co-I of the space plasma experiments aboard Pioneers 10 and 11, IMP 6,7, and 8, ISEE 1,2, and 3, Mariner 10, Giotto, Ulysses, and the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE). He was the PI of a successful rocket experiment in 1983 (Taurus) that tested a total-absorption neutron spectrometer, of the Army Background Experiment (ABE) aboard the LACE spacecraft, a neutron experiment aboard a Long duration Antarctic Mars simulation Balloon (LAMB) launched from McMurdo in Dec. 1992, Feldman was Co-I of Lunar Prospector with overall responsibility for the gamma-ray, neutron, and alpha-particle spectrometers, and was Co-I of the GRS/NS experiment aboard Mars Odyssey with special responsibility for the neutron spectrometer. He served as Chairman of the NASA Solar Probe Science Study Team between 1988 and 1995. He received a Los Alamos National Laboratory distinguished performance award in 1985, was named a Laboratory Fellow in 1987, elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1996, and is author or co-author of more than 200 scientific papers, most of which are concerned with research in Space Physics.

Honors and Awards

Fellow, American Geophysical Union

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