| Carolyn S. Shoemaker | |
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| Born | June
24, 1929 Gallup, New Mexico, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, California Palomar Observatory, San Diego, California |
| Known for | co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 |
| Notable awards | National Aeronautics and Space Administration Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal |
Carolyn Jean Spellmann Shoemaker (born June 24, 1929) is an American astronomer and is a co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. She holds the record for most comets discovered by an individual.
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Carolyn Jean Spellmann was born in in Gallup, New Mexico, United States. She is the widow of Eugene Shoemaker, who was also an astronomer.
Shoemaker started her astronomical career in 1980, searching for Earth-crossing asteroids and comets at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, and the Palomar Observatory, San Diego, California.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Shoemaker used film taken at the wide-field telescope at the Palomar Observatory, combined with a stereoscope, to find objects which moved against the background of fixed stars.
As of 2002, Shoemaker had discovered 32 comets and over 800 asteroids (counting the as-yet unnumbered ones).[1]
Shoemaker received an honorary doctorate from the Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona[1], and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1996. She and her husband were awarded the James Craig Watson Medal by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1998.
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