Steve Squyres
Space exploration science flourished in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries as robotic missions pushed outward across the solar system, generating data that demanded rigorous analysis back on Earth. Steven Squyres, born on January 9, 1957, in New Jersey, came of age in that environment and built a career as an astronomer and university teacher rooted in planetary science.
Educated at Gateway Regional High School and later at Cornell University, Squyres went on to teach at the university level while pursuing work in his field. As an astronomer, he operated at the intersection of observation and public engagement — a combination that the planetary science community recognized explicitly. The Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science, one of the several honors he received, points directly to that dual commitment to research and outreach.
The breadth of recognition Squyres accumulated over his career is notable on its own terms. He received the Harold C. Urey Prize, the G. K. Gilbert Award, the Whipple Award, the Nevada Medal, the NSS Wernher Von Braun Memorial Award, and the Benjamin Franklin Medal. Each of these honors comes from a different corner of the scientific community — planetary science, geology, space advocacy — reflecting the range of work he contributed as both a researcher and a teacher. The Benjamin Franklin Medal, among the most formally distinguished of the group, stands as a concrete marker of how his peers assessed his contributions to science.
Quotes by Steve Squyres
The rocks, to a great extent, look swept clean. It’s a much cleaner surface than what we had a right to hope for.
Mars is telling us something. I’m not sure what it is because It’s speaking martian. But it’s telling us something.
Is there water still on Mars? I don’t have a view on that because we don’t have good data to answer that question. One of the biggest mistakes you can make if you’re a scientist is to think you know the answer, or wish for a certain answer, before you actually have it.
We have concluded that the rocks here were once soaked in liquid water. It changed their texture, and it changed their chemistry. We’ve been able to read the tell-tale clues the water left behind, giving us confidence in that conclusion.
These rovers are living on borrowed time. We’re so past warranty on them. You try to push them hard every day because we’re living day to day.
That’s really what science is just trying to figure stuff out, and I like figuring stuff out.
The thing that sets Mars apart is that it is the one planet that is enough like Earth that you can imagine life possibly once having taken hold there.