Biography:Christine Floss
Christine Floss (1961–2018) was a German-born American cosmochemist whose research involved studying the atomic composition of meteorites, interplanetary dust, and moon rocks in order to understand the formation of the Solar System.[1] She was a research professor of physics at Washington University in St. Louis, affiliated with the university's Laboratory for Space Sciences and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences.[2][3]
Early life and education
Floss was born in Munich, but moved to the US with her family as a child of five.[4] She majored in German at Purdue University, graduating in 1983,[3] but cast around in many directions for a career, eventually finding her life interest in a geology class she took to fulfil a general education requirement.[5] Floss earned a second bachelor's degree in geology from Indiana University, in 1987,[3] with a senior thesis on moon rocks advised by Abhijit Basu.[5]
She completed a Ph.D. in geochemistry at Washington University in St. Louis in 1991, under the supervision of Ghislaine Crozaz.[3] Her dissertation was Rare earth element and other trace element microdistributions in two unusual extraterrestrial igneous systems: The enstatite achondrite (aubrite) meteorites and the lunar ferroan anorthosites.[6] She entered the doctoral program already married, with two children; the marriage ended during her graduate studies.[5] Crozaz later wrote: "She was definitely one of our best students, and I wondered how she managed to complete her PhD in only four years while at the same time raising two young girls".[3]
Career and later life
She became a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany,[2] "mostly for personal reasons": following her future husband, Frank Stadermann, a German researcher in the same specialty whom she had met when he was a visiting student at Washington University.[5] They married in 1993,[2] and had another child before returning together to Washington University in 1996.[7] Floss became a research scientist in the Laboratory for Space Sciences. Eventually she became a research professor.[2]
Her husband died at age 48, in 2010, of a cerebral hemorrhage.[7] She was found dead on April 19, 2018 of a heroin overdose.[3][8] At the time of her death, she was in the process of becoming a regular full professor at Washington University.[1]
Recognition
Asteroid 6689 Floss, discovered in 1981 by Schelte J. Bus, was named for Floss.[2][9] A special issue of the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science was published in her memory in 2020.[1] A lunar crater was named after her in 2023.[10]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Haenecour, Pierre; Bose, Maitrayee (May 2020), "Understanding our solar system history through in situ nanoscale analysis of extraterrestrial materials: A special issue for Dr. Christine Floss", Meteoritics & Planetary Science (Wiley) 55 (6): 1153–1159, doi:10.1111/maps.13489, Bibcode: 2020M&PS...55.1153H
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Christine Floss, 1961–2018", Lunar and Planetary Information Bulletin (Lunar and Planetary Institute) (155): 34, January 2019, https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/newsletters/lpib/new/christine-floss-1961-2018/
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Obituary: Christine Floss, research professor in physics, 56", The Record (Washington University in St. Louis), April 23, 2018, https://source.wustl.edu/2018/04/obituary-christine-floss-research-professor-in-physics-56/
- ↑ "Christine Floss", Solar system exploration (NASA), https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/2100/christine-floss/, retrieved 2023-08-04
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Niebur, Susan (October 5, 2010), "Christine Floss: There are many definitions of success", Women in Planetary Science, https://womeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/christine-floss-there-are-many-definitions-of-success/
- ↑ "Christine Floss", AstroGen (American Astronomical Society), https://astrogen.aas.org/front/searchdetails.php?agnumber=14523, retrieved 2023-08-04
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Zinner, Ernst (September 2010), "Frank J. Stadermann 1962–2010", Meteoritics & Planetary Science (Wiley) 45 (9): 1527–1528, doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2010.01159.x, Bibcode: 2010M&PS...45.1527Z
- ↑ Bogan, Jesse (May 20, 2018), "Washington University space scientist who yearned to help ex-con dies from apparent overdose", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/washington-university-space-scientist-who-yearned-to-help-ex-con-dies-from-apparent-overdose/article_aacfb140-2a3e-5a6b-9844-125fa29e1cb8.html
- ↑ "6689 Floss (1981 EQ24)", Small-Body Database (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=6689&view=OPD, retrieved 2023-08-04
- ↑ "Planetary Names". https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/16251.
Further reading
- Reisz, Matthew (May 31, 2018), "Christine Floss, 1961–2018: Tributes paid to physicist whose research on moon rocks illuminated our understanding of the solar system", Times Higher Education, https://www.timeshighereducation.com/people/christine-floss-1961-2018
- Seltzer, Jo Louise (May 7, 2018), "Astronomy with a Microscope", Science by Seltzer, https://sciencebyseltzer.com/astronomy-with-a-microscope/, retrieved 2023-08-04</ref>
External links
- Christine Floss publications indexed by Google Scholar
 |  |
