People: Penn State Astronomer Is Named Chief Scientist At NASA

At NASA At NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration administrator Daniel Goldin has appointed Pennylvania State University astrophysicist France Cordova to become the agency's chief scientist, effective sometime this month. According to NASA, Cordova will be the administrator's senior scientific adviser and will serve as the principal liaison between the agency and the national and international science community and the general public. Cordova, 46, who has been the head of Penn Sta

Written byRon Kaufman

| 3 min read

Save for Later

Listen with Speechify

0:00

3:00

At NASA At NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration administrator Daniel Goldin has appointed Pennylvania State University astrophysicist France Cordova to become the agency's chief scientist, effective sometime this month. According to NASA, Cordova will be the administrator's senior scientific adviser and will serve as the principal liaison between the agency and the national and international science community and the general public.

Cordova, 46, who has been the head of Penn State's department of astronomy and astrophysics since 1989, will take a temporary leave from the school to work at NASA's Washington, D.C., offices.

"NASA is a civil space agency whose purpose is to explore science and technology in space for the benefit of the whole nation," says Cordova. "A couple of decades ago, getting to the moon was a mission people could easily understand. In the view of this administrator [Goldin], many of today's NASA programs look too exclusive ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!

Join for free today

Already a member? Login Here