Guy Consolmagno

Life

Consolmagno attended the University of Detroit Jesuit High School before he obtained his S.B. (1974) and S.M. (1975) degrees at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. (1978) at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, all in planetary science. After postdoctoral research and teaching at Harvard College Observatory and MIT, in 1983 he joined the US Peace Corps to serve in Kenya for two years, teaching astronomy and physics. After his return he took a position as Assistant Professor at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.

In 1989 he entered the Society of Jesus, and took vows as a brother in 1991. On entry into the order, he was assigned as an astronomer to the Vatican Observatory, where he also serves as curator of the Vatican Meteorite collection, a position he has held since then. In addition to his continuing professional work in planetary science, he has also studied philosophy and theology.

His research is centered on the connections between meteorites and asteroids, and the origin and evolution of small bodies in the solar system. In addition to over 40 refereed scientific papers, he has co-authored several books on astronomy for the popular market, which have been translated into multiple languages. During 1996, he took part in the Antarctic Search for Meteorites, ANSMET, where he discovered a number of meteorites on the ice fields of Antarctica. An asteroid was named in his honor by the International Astronomical Union, IAU in 2000: 4597 Consolmagno, also known as "Little Guy."

He believes in the need for science and religion to work alongside one another rather than as competing ideologies. In 2006, he said, "Religion needs science to keep it away from superstition and keep it close to reality, to protect it from creationism, which at the end of the day is a kind of paganism – it's turning God into a nature god." Consolmagno was recently the Chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, serving from October 2006 to October 2007.

Consolmagno is a popular speaker as well as a writer of popular science. He has been a guest of honor at several science fiction conventions, including DucKon in 2000, ConFusion in his native state of Michigan in 2002, Boskone in 2007, ConClave in 2009, MuseCon in 2015, and Minicon and Worldcon in 2017. He was an invited participant in Scifoo in 2008 as well. He taught at Fordham University in New York City for the fall term of 2008. Consolmagno gave the keynote speech at the 2013 Stellafane amateur telescope making convention on Aug 10. He appeared on The Colbert Report in December, 2009 to promote his book, The Heavens Proclaim. In May 2014, Consolmagno received an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa) from Georgetown University and spoke at the Georgetown College commencement ceremony. In 2010, he was a guest on On Being with Krista Tippett, alongside his friend and colleague Father George Coyne. In the interview, Consolmagno and Coyne discussed their distinct and intimate relationships with science and faith. The show aired for a second time in 2011, and for a third time in September 2015.

On July 2, 2014, he was awarded the Carl Sagan Medal for outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist to the general public by the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society.

Known as "The Pope's Astronomer," he was named by Pope Francis to be the Director of the Vatican Observatory in September 2015.