NASA engineer, author to speak at PLACE lecture

NASA space engineer and science fiction writer B. Gentry Lee will give a presentation titled “A Passion for Knowledge” this week at Texas A&M UniversityTexarkana.

The presentation will start at 7 p.m. Thursday in Eagle Hall of the University Center on campus, 7101 University Ave. The free event is open to the public and is part of the university’s Program for Learning and Community Engagement.

Lee is chief engineer for the Solar System Exploration Directorate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and is responsible for the engineering integrity of all the robotic planetary missions managed by JPL for NASA. His work includes the Curiosity rover mission to Mars in August 2012, the Juno mission to Jupiter, the GRAIL missions to the moon and many others.

Lee also worked in various positions on the Viking project— the first U.S. mission to land a spacecraft safely on the surface of Mars and return images— including as director of Science Analysis and Mission Planning.

He worked with Carl Sagan on the award-winning documentary series “Cosmos” from 1976-81 and performed/narrated in the Discovery Channel documentary “Are We Alone?” in 2009. The engineer co-authored four novels—all New York Times bestsellers—with science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke and since has written three solo novels.

Lee received many awards including NASA’s highest, the Distinguished Service Medal. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from University of Texas at Austin in 1963 and a master’s degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964.

Lee speaks about extraterrestrials, exploring the planets and the importance of science literacy.

The theme for this year’s PLACE events is Science and Technology. For more information, email Dr. Corrine Hinton, PLACE chair, at corrine.hinton@ tamut.edu or visit tamut.edu/ PLACE.