Meanings of minor planet names: 249001–250000 (original) (raw)
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As minor planet discoveries are confirmed, they are given a permanent number by the IAU's Minor Planet Center (MPC), and the discoverers can then submit names for them, following the IAU's naming conventions. The list below concerns those minor planets in the specified number-range that have received names, and explains the meanings of those names.
Based on Paul Herget's The Names of the Minor Planets,[6] Schmadel also researched the unclear origin of numerous asteroids, most of which had been named prior to World War II. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: SBDB New namings may only be added to this list below after official publication as the preannouncement of names is condemned.[7] The WGSBN publishes a comprehensive guideline for the naming rules of non-cometary small Solar System bodies.[8]
Hamed Abdel-Samad (born 1972) is an Egyptian political scientist whose satirical German TV series "Safary through Germany" has initiated a broad national discussion.
Antony R. Berger (born 1937), a Canadian geologist who has helped launch many international scientific NGOs, including the Association of Geoscientists for International Development. He has authored over 130 publications in earth science, science policy and environmental issues.
Karen Mortfield (born 1958) is a Canadian public affairs specialist. As a volunteer, she played a leadership role in the renaissance of the David Dunlap Observatory in Canada, working from 2009 to 2017 to repurpose the 80-year old Observatory as a space science campus.
Donald Royer (born 1942), an expert in the systems needed to operate and communicate with NASA space missions. He served as the mission operations systems manager for the WISE mission.
Ingolf Heinrichsen (born 1964), an expert in the systems engineering, operations, and management of space telescopes, including the Kepler mission, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and the Spitzer Space Telescope
Whitney Clavin (born 1971), a science writer who works to inform the public about results from NASA astronomy missions such as Spitzer, Kepler and WISE
Gerard A. Luppino (1959–2016) was an astronomer at the University of Hawaii, where he pioneered the construction of large-format mosaic CCD cameras for astronomy. He later formed GL Scientific, a company that fabricated instruments for many telescopes and space experiments.
John Dailey (born 1978), a software engineer who was the lead developer for the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer's moving object processing system for identifying minor planets in the project's infrared images
Eric Rice (born 1979), a systems engineer specializing in fault protection. He has served as the fault protection engineer for several NASA spacecraft, including the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer