- Born
- Died
- Birth nameEugene Merle Shoemaker
- Eugene Shoemaker was born on April 28, 1928 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is known for Deep Impact (1998), In Search of... (1976) and Unsolved Mysteries (1987). He was married to Carolyn Shoemaker. He died on July 18, 1997 in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
- SpouseCarolyn Shoemaker(1951 - July 18, 1997) (his death)
- Ironically killed in an impact himself: a head-on crash on a blind curve in the road, during a trip to Australia to search for craters. His wife Carolyn and the other driver survived with injuries.
- Co-discoverer in 1993 with Carolyn and astronomer David Levy of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, whose shattered pieces collided with the planet Jupiter the next year. Also co-discovered with Carolyn many other comets and hundreds of asteroids.
- In January 1998 he received the unprecedented honor of having a portion of his ashes launched to the Moon (aboard the Lunar Prospector probe).
- Astronomer and geologist; leading expert on impact craters.
- Received his Ph.D. at Princeton University, 1960, with a thesis on Meteor Crater, Arizona, USA.
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