[SPA] SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER, Volume XXVI, Issue 63

[Newsletter Editor]

AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION
SPA SECTION NEWSLETTER
Volume XXVI, Issue 63
Nov.16,2019

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Table of Contents

1. Richard Aran Goldberg (1936-2019)

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Richard A. Goldberg (1936-2019)

From: Rob Pfaff, Doug Rowland, and Diego Janches (robert.f.pfaff at nasa.gov)

Dick Goldberg, pioneering ionospheric researcher, expert on the physics of the mesosphere, and a cheerful colleague and close friend to many fellow scientists, died peacefully in Silver Spring, MD on November 2, 2019.  He was 83.

Throughout his career, Dick was actively engaged in researching problems dealing with Solar-Terrestrial Relationships and with the physics and chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere.  His studies included both the ionized and neutral regions of the atmosphere, and included meteorology and climate, from both a theoretical and experimental approach.  

An active experimentalist, Dick frequently carried out mesospheric investigations that combined measurements gathered with instruments carried into space on NASA sounding rockets with ground-based observations.  To this end, Dick led numerous campaigns to international sites such as Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Peru, India, and Spain.  He was known for organizing multi-faceted research activities within the wider scientific community that included, in particular, researchers in Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.

In addition to his sounding rocket work, Dick is also known for his leadership role with NASA’s TIMED satellite, where he served as the NASA Project Scientist in collaboration with the mission management provided by the Applied Physics Laboratory.  In this role, Dick helped to ensure that the mesospheric science from TIMED was consistently at the cutting edge of what has become a burgeoning field of research.

Dick Goldberg joined the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center in 1963 and retired in 2013 after 50 years of service.  He received the Exceptional Service Medal in 2013 for “Outstanding long-term service to NASA missions and research that has advanced our understanding of the ionosphere, thermosphere, and mesosphere.”  Dick also served as a Program Director for Solar-Terrestrial Relations at the National Science Foundation (1989-1991).  

During his early years at Goddard, Dick helped develop mass spectrometry in space by flying small quadrupoles on sounding rockets to advance our understanding of the lower ionosphere.  His research interests later included studies of magnetospheric electron bursts precipitated by lightning and energy deposition in the middle atmosphere from relativistic electron precipitation, shifting still later to the polar summer mesosphere and noctilucent clouds as well as neutral dynamics, gravity waves, and turbulence.  

During his distinguished career, Dick published more than 150 articles in the refereed literature including co-authoring a monograph entitled, Sun, Weather, and Climate, in 1978.

Dick was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1936, and was raised in Swampscott, Massachusetts, where he went to high school.  After graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1957 with a BS in Physics, he then proceeded to carry out graduate studies at The Pennsylvania State University, where he earned his Ph.D. in Physics in 1963.

Dick is survived by his wife, Paula, of 53 years, his daughter, Lisa Goldberg, and her husband, Stefan Gunther, his granddaughter, Andi, and his sister, Bonnie Lewis.  Dick loved to travel and immersed himself in the culture of each place that he visited.  He particularly enjoyed trying new foods and meeting new people.  He earned a pilot’s license and owned a Cessna with two friends.  He had a deep appreciation of music and was a gifted photographer.

Beyond his many scientific achievements, Dick was a mentor for many younger scientists at Goddard and around the world, and leaves behind many scientific colleagues who were also his close friends.  Dick Goldberg’s positive, outgoing nature made him a welcomed companion on many research expeditions.  He will be greatly missed within the international scientific community.


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