Lindy Elkins-Tanton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lindy Elkins-Tanton
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Elkins-Tanton in 2018
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Known for | Psyche |
| Spouse(s) | James Tanton |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Planetary Science |
| Institutions | School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University; Carnegie Institution for Science; Brown University; St. Mary's College of Maryland |
| Doctoral advisors | Timothy L. Grove, Bradford H. Hager |
Lindy Elkins-Tanton is an American scientist and professor. She studies how planets like Earth change over time. She leads NASA's Psyche mission, which is exploring a special metal asteroid called 16 Psyche. Dr. Elkins-Tanton is also a Vice President at Arizona State University for the Interplanetary Initiative. She co-founded Beagle Learning, a company that helps people learn to solve problems and think critically together.
Contents
Lindy's Journey in Science
Dr. Elkins-Tanton earned three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She studied geology (the study of Earth's rocks and history) and geochemistry (the study of chemicals in Earth).
She taught at MIT and worked as a scientist at Brown University. She also lectured at St. Mary's College of Maryland. For some years, she even worked in the business world.
About ten years after getting her highest degree, she became a director at the Carnegie Institution for Science. This is a famous place for scientific research. On July 1, 2014, she became the director of the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University.
Leading the Psyche Mission
Dr. Elkins-Tanton is the main scientist for NASA's Psyche mission. This mission is exploring a unique asteroid named 16 Psyche. This asteroid is thought to be made mostly of metal.
On January 4, 2017, NASA announced that the Psyche mission was chosen to move forward. This was a big step! Dr. Elkins-Tanton is only the second woman to lead a NASA mission to a major object in our Solar System. The Psyche spacecraft launched in October 2023 and is currently traveling to the asteroid. It is expected to arrive in 2029.
Helping Others Learn
Dr. Elkins-Tanton also helped start Beagle Learning. She leads the higher education part of this company. Beagle Learning creates software tools and offers coaching. These tools help students learn through exploration and discovery.
Awards and Special Recognitions
Dr. Elkins-Tanton has received many awards for her work. She was named a Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow twice by the National Academy of Sciences.
In 2008, she received a five-year CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. In 2009, MIT recognized her as an Outstanding Faculty Undergraduate Research Mentor. This award is for professors who are great at guiding students in research.
In 2010, she won the Lowell Thomas prize from the Explorers Club. This award was for her work on exploring extinctions. In 2013, she was an Astor Fellow at the University of Oxford in England.
She became a fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2016. In 2020, she received the Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship.
An asteroid, 8252 Elkins-Tanton, was named after her! This is a very special honor. She is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2022, she wrote a book about her life called A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman.
A New Mineral Named After Her
In 2022, a new mineral was discovered in the El Ali meteorite. This meteorite fell to Earth in Somalia. Dr. Andrew Locock of the University of Alberta named this new mineral elkinstantonite after Dr. Elkins-Tanton. This shows how important her work is in planetary science!
See also
In Spanish: Lindy Elkins-Tanton para niños
- List of women in leadership positions on astronomical instrumentation projects
