Yeomans to speak at Tupper Awards

Don Yeomans, a Jet Propulsion Laboratory Fellow, senior research scientist and manager of NASA’s Near Earth Objects Program Office, will be the guest speaker on May 12 when the La Cañada Flintridge Coordinating Council holds its annual Les Tupper Awards ceremony in von Karman Auditorium on the JPL campus. The event begins at 7 p.m. and is open to the community.

Yeomans’ topic is “Near Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They Find Us.” Yeomans was the Radio Science team chief for NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission. He was a scientific investigator on NASA’s Deep Impact mission that successfully impacted comet Tempel 1 in July 2005. He also provided predictions that led to the recovery of comet Halley at Palomar Observatory on Oct. 16, 1982 and allowed the discovery of 164 BC Babylonian observations of comet Halley on clay tablets in the British Museum. His group at JPL is responsible for providing predictions for future close Earth approaches and impacts by comets and asteroids.

He has received 19 NASA Achievement Awards including an Exceptional Service Medal and Distinguished Service Medal. Asteroid “2956” was renamed asteroid “2956 Yeomans” to honor his professional achievements. In 2013 Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential persons in the world.

The Les Tupper awardees this year include Tony Angelica, Susan Boyd, Stephen del Guercio, Harriet Hammons, Kyla Bradley, LCF Community Scholarship Foundation and the La Cañada branch of the county library system.

-- Carol Cormaci, carol.cormaci@latimes.com

Follow on Twitter: @CarolCormaci.

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