Periklis Papadopoulos: The Greek-American scientist who landed 'Curiosity' on Mars

The man who landed the Curiosity rover on Mars few days ago is of Greek descent! On Aug. 10, the $2.6 billion rover had to go through “seven minutes of terror” to land in one specific spot chosen by NASA in order to  to “assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms,” according to NASA.

While the achievement was that of a team of NASA scientists and workers, the man who had his hand on the guidance was Periklis Papadopoulos, who was born in the Kalamata area in the Peloponnese in 1963.

After graduating from the Leontio High School, Papadopoulos moved to the United States in 1982 in pursuit of his dream to study Aeronautics and Astronautics, with specialization in planetary exploration and hypersonics. He earned his PhD degree at Stanford University in 1992 but had been working since 1987 at the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California.

He has participated in several planetary missions, including that of Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) in a bid to collect as many data as possible from the Martian surface. The Greek man who captured international press attention was quoted as saying he feels really proud of having fulfilled his dream.


Source: The National Herald via Greek Reporter