Bill McKinnon
Alumni

Arts & Sciences Eliot Society Reception Featuring William B. McKinnon

By invitation only.

6:00-6:30 PM
Cocktail Reception on the Main Level

6:30-7:30 PM
Star Show and Presentation by William B. McKinnon

7:30-8:30 PM
Hors D'oeuvres Reception in the Planetarium and Galleries

Admission is complimentary, but space is limited. Registration is required.

Arts & Sciences Eliot Society Reception featuring William B. McKinnon, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Faculty Fellow of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences

​Professor McKinnon’s research focuses on the icy satellites of the outer solar system and the physics of impact cratering. He and his students and colleagues concentrate on the origin, structure, evolution, and bombardment history of outer planet satellites and Pluto.

The last twenty odd years of planetary exploration can be characterized by both the unveiling of the outer solar system - initially by the Voyager missions, but now by the Galileo mission to Jupiter as well as ground- and space-based telescopes - and the growing realization of the importance of impacts in solar system evolution. Dedicated to exploring this frontier, Professor McKinnon believes this includes understanding the relative importance of large impacts, orbital dynamics, and internal processes for tectonics and other surface modifications, the origin and evolution of impactor populations, and the cratering mechanics in ice and other targets.

Professor McKinnon is interested in extending our geological and geophysical perspectives to worlds where water ice is a major, if not dominant, constituent. These worlds include the satellite systems of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, which resemble miniature solar systems in part. Galileo image and other data received over the last several years has transformed our view of the Jupiter's major moons - Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto - in particular.

For more information, please contact Deane Adam at 314-935-5224 or deane.adam@wustl.edu.

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