Astronomers, Astrophysicists, Astronauts, “S...-”
for the social studies and science classrooms, theme decor.

Carl Sagan
Adam Johann Schall
Giovanni Schiaparelli

Wally Schirra
Maarten Schmidt
Russell “Rusty” Schweickart

Carl Sagan
b. 11-9-1934; Brooklyn, NY
d. 12-20-1996

Carl Sagan popularized astronomy with his PBS program Cosmos, and his novel “Contact” was the basis of a movie by the same name.

• You Are Here: “Look at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. ...”
• Carl Sagan's Cosmic Calendar

Johann Adam Schall von Bell
b. 5-1-1591; Cologne or Lüftelberg, Germany
d. 8-15-1666; Beijing, China

Johann Adam Schall von Bell was a Jesuit missionary to China where the emperor appointed him to a post in the Chinese observatory in connection to mathematics and predicting celestial events.

Giovanni Schiaparelli
b. 3-14-1835; Savigliano, Italy
d. 7-4-1910

Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli was the first to show that the Perseid and Leonid meteor showers were associated with comets. He also observed Mars and believed he saw “seas” and “continents”; he named the long straight formations canali in Italian. Years later the “canals” were shown to be an optical illusion.

Schiaparelli studied at the University of Turin.

Walter Schirra
b. 3-12-1923; Hackensack, New Jersey
d. 5-4-2007; Cape Kennedy, FL

Wally Schirra, one of the original Mecury 7 astronauts, was also part of the Gemini and Apollo programs. Schirra was the first person to go into space three times, logging 295 hours and 15 minutes.

FYI - Schirra's parents were aviation pioneers - his father was a “barnstormer”, his mother a “wing-walker” on her husband's biplane.

Maarten Schmidt
b. 12-28-1929; Groningen, The Netherlands

Maarten Schmidt measured the distances of quasars (QUASi-stellAR radio source), extremely bright and distant active galactic nucleus.

Russell “Rusty” Schweickart
b. 10-25-1935; Neptune, NJ

Rusty Schweickart flew as the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 9 with Jim McDivitt and Dave Scott in 1969, testing systems for landing on the Moon. Schweickart suffered from space sickness that ultimately limited his space flight.

Schweickart, who has taught at Esalen Institute, is also cofounder of the B612 Foundation, a group that aims to defend Earth from asteroid impacts.

FYI -B-612 is the name of the astroid in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's “The Little Prince”.

Harlow Shapley
b. 11-2-1885; Nashville, MO
d. 10-20-1972

Harlow Shapley was one of the first astronomers to realize the Milky Way Galaxy was larger than previously thought and the Earth's Sun was in a “nondescript” area of the galaxy. He was one of the participants in the “Great Debate” of 1920 on the nature of nebulas.

Shapley had dropped out of school with a 5th grade education, but studied at home and went back to high school to become the class valedictorian. He then went to the University of Missouri, ending up with an astronomy degree. Eventually he became head of Harvard University Observatory and was also a victim of McCarthyism.

Alan Shepard in Mercury Capsule, Photographic Print

Alan Shepard
b. 11-18-1923; Derry, New Hampshire
d. 7-21-1998; Pebble Beach, CA (leukemia)

Alan Shepard, the second person and first American in space flight, (suborbital, 5-5-1961, Mercury 3), also flew in the Apollo 14 mission (1971) and was the fifth person to walk on the Moon.

John “Jack” Swigert
b. 8-30-1931; Denver, CO
d. 12-27-1982; Washington, DC (bone cancer)

Jack Swigert was a member of the Apollo 13 crew, replacing astronaut Ken Mattingly at the last moment. Swigert, caught in the Apollo 15 stamp incident, was eliminated from further space assignments. After leaving NASA Swigert was elected as a Representative from Colorado in 1982 but died before he could be sworn in.