Stamatios M. Krimigis
The 2014 Jean Dominique Cassini Medal & Honorary Membership is awarded to Stamatios M. Krimigis for his key discoveries and his seminal contributions in solar, interplanetary, magnetospheric and planetary physics, his leadership in the design and implementation of new experiments and new space science missions and his pivotal role in space science policy.
Stamatios M. Krimigis, now Member and Chair of Science and Space at the Academy of Athens, Greece, was Head of the Space Department of the Applied Physics Laboratory at the Johns Hopkins University, USA, until 2004. Krimigis’ research career has been marked by key discoveries and by seminal contributions in solar, interplanetary, magnetospheric and planetary physics. Under his leadership, experiments have been designed, constructed, tested and launched on-board spacecraft to analyse the plasma environment of the Earth, the other planets and the heliosphere. Krimigis is one of the world leaders in the field of planetary and space sciences. He is the only scientist who has built instruments and analysed data from the magnetospheres, intrinsic or induced, of every planet in the Solar System, including the now-dwarf-planet Pluto.
In parallel with his exceptional scientific career, Krimigis has a rare success story as manager of space science projects. Krimigis excelled in the design and implementation of new paradigms in space science missions that minimised the cost and schedule while maximising the science return, advancing the Discovery mission line within NASA. Since 2005 he has remained the Head Emeritus of this department, and continues to work on the analysis of several space missions including Voyager, Cassini and MESSENGER.
Krimigis’ influence on space policy has been very important: due to his worldwide reputation, he has meet with various chiefs of state to provide key advice on space-science policy issues. Another of Krimigis’ great strengths is his ability and desire to support and collaborate with established and young scientists alike. To have a visionary and inspirational international leader like Krimigis, showing genuine interest in young scientists’ research and working closely with them, has made tremendous difference to many young scientists’ aspirations. For these reasons, he is a highly deserving recipient of the EGU 2014 Cassini Medal.
Medal lecture video (Youtube) of the Jean Dominique Cassini Medal given at the EGU General Assembly 2014.