Bonnie Buratti Explained

Bonnie J. Buratti
Nationality:	American
Fields:	Planetary science
Workplaces:	Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Alma Mater:	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cornell University

Bonnie J. Buratti (born 1952) is an American planetary scientist in the Division of Earth and Space Sciences at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where she leads the Comets, Asteroids, and Satellites Group. Her research involves the composition and physical properties of planetary surfaces,^[1] and volatile transport in the outer solar system.^[2]

Education

Buratti received an M.S. in Earth and Planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.S. and PhD in Astronomy and Space Sciences from Cornell University.

Career

Buratti has worked on the Voyager Program, the Cassini–Huygens spacecraft (for which she served as Co-Investigator on the VIMS instrument), and the New Horizons space probe.^[3] For her work with the Cassini program she was awarded the NASA exceptional achievement medal in 2006. Buratti also does educational outreach at the college and grade school level.^[4] In 2014 she was elected Chair of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society.^[5] In November 2015, Buratti was named the NASA Project Scientist for the European Space Agency's Rosetta Mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.^[6]

Awards and honors

• The Hildian asteroid 90502 Buratti, discovered by NEAT in 2004, was named in her honor on 21 March 2008 .
• She is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.^[7]
• In 2018, she was awarded the Carl Sagan Medal.
• In 2022, she was awarded the Gerard P. Kuiper Prize.^[8]
• She was named a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2024, "for fundamental insights into the origin and nature of small-body surfaces using both space- and ground-based facilities, tireless devotion to the planetary science community, and wise and supportive mentorship of young scientists".

Bibliography

Books

• Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar: A Guided Tour of the Solar System

Notes and References

1. Web site: Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Bonnie Buratti. JPL.Gov. 10 May 2015.
2. Buratti. Bonnie. Photometry of Pluto 2008--2014: Evidence of Ongoing Seasonal Volatile Transport and Activity. Astrophysical Journal Letters. May 2015. 804. 1. 10.1088/2041-8205/804/1/L6. 2015ApJ...804L...6B. L6. 120608692 .
3. Buratti, J.. Bonnie. Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer Observations of Iapetus: Detection of CO2. The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 1 April 2005. 622. 2. L149–L152. 10.1086/429800. 2005ApJ...622L.149B. free.
4. Web site: Teachers Touch The Sky. jpl.nasa.gov. 14 May 2015. 18 May 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150518093610/http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=273. dead.
5. Web site: DPS Officers. Division of Planetary Sciences. 17 May 2015.
6. Web site: Rosetta Team Members. JPL. 5 October 2016. 17 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161017085910/http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov/team-members. dead.
7. Web site: Fellows Alphabetic List. American Geophysical Union.
8. Web site: 2022 Kuiper Prize Recipients. |url=https://dps.aas.org/prizes/2022/