Conference 7.286::space

449.0. "Frederick Scarf Passes Away" by MTWAIN::KLAES (Know Future) Thu Aug 11 1988 16:27

    FRED SCARF, NOTED SPACE SCIENTIST, DIES AT 57 - CAN990702.txt - 7/19/88
 
    Frederick L. Scarf, a chief scientist for research and technology
at TRW, died Sunday, in Moscow.  Dr. Scarf, 57, was part of an
international delegation attending the launch of two Soviet probes
designed to investigate one of the moons of Mars, Phobos.  He was a
co-investigator of an instrument aboard each of the spacecraft. 
 
    Dr. Scarf, a member of the TRW staff since 1962, was an
internationally recognized authority on space plasma physics, a
science dealing with solar winds and their effects on the gas and
particles that make up the interplanetary medium or "plasma."   In
addition to his instruments aboard the Soviet mission, he was
principal investigator for an instrument aboard the Japanese GEOTAIL
spacecraft scheduled for launch behind the Sun in 1992.  He was an
interdisciplinary scientist and co-investigator on GALILEO, a
U.S.-planned spacecraft that will explore the inner layers of
Jupiter's cloud cover. 
 
    During his career Dr. Scarf had worked extensively with Soviet
scientists on cooperative research involving lightning on Venus and
the plasma physics associated with the structure of comets.  He has
traveled to the Soviet Union several times as a NASA delegate, as a
guest of the Institute of Space Research in Moscow, and recently, as a
participant in the Space Future Forum. 
 
    In the United States, Dr. Scarf was best known as the principal
investigator for the plasma wave instrument aboard NASA's VOYAGER 1
and 2.  The instrument enabled Scarf and a team of associates from TRW
and the University of Iowa to listen to and decipher the sounds
"heard" by spacecraft as they travel through space.  The resulting
wave measurements have provided key information on the formation of
aurora, the interaction of the solar wind with planetary magnetic
fields, and planetary lightning. 
 
    His VOYAGER detector consists of a pair of 10-meter long antennas
in a "V" that pull in signals emitted by plasma particles.  Radio
waves generated by these charged particles are detected and
transmitted back to Earth. 
 
    In addition to VOYAGER, Dr. Scarf had been a principal
investigator for plasma wave instruments on many other NASA programs
including PIONEER 8, PIONEER 9, and PIONEER VENUS ORBITER 1.  He was
also a lead investigator on the INTERNATIONAL COMETARY EXPLORER (ICE),
which passed through the tail of Comet Giacobini-Zinner in 1985, and
on the wave instrument on the AMPTE CHARGE COMPOSITION EXPLORER. 
 
    Dr. Scarf's plasma work had been honored by two Exceptional
Scientific Achievement Medals from NASA and the Space Science Award by
the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.  Recognition
of his work extended far beyond scientific circles.  In 1986, he was a
member of two scientific delegations which met separately with
President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.  His visit with
President Reagan was part of a White House series of luncheons with
distinguished scientists.  His meeting with the Pope was through the
Inter-Agency Consultative Group for Space Science whose members
include the European Space Agency, the Japanese Institute for Space
and Astronautical Sciences, the Soviet Union's Intercosmos, and NASA. 
 
    Although he had authored or co-authored more than 250 scholarly
papers for scientific publications, Dr. Scarf also had the ability to
communicate the wonder of his findings to the non-scientific
community.  In talking about the recordings of his VOYAGER 1 and 2
instruments, Dr. Scarf said, "The sounds of Saturn are unlike anything
ever encountered.  At times they resemble a choir of lazy bird calls
and odd clicking noises."  Recordings made by his instruments were
often played by radio stations, and Dr. Scarf was approached by composers 
interested in the "music of the spheres" recorded by his experiments. 
 
    After joining TRW as a member of its technical staff, Dr. Scarf
was principal investigator for the plasma wave investigations on OGO-5
(ORBITING GEOPHYSICAL OBSERVATORIES) and IMP-7 (INTERPLANETARY
MONITORING PLATFORM).  He participated in analysis of data from wave
instruments on rockets and U.S. Air Force spacecraft, and served on a
large number of NASA space mission planning groups. 
 
    Over the years, Dr. Scarf has served on many scientific advisory
committees of the National Academy of Sciences and the International
Council of Scientific Unions.  For six years Dr.  Scarf was chairman
of the National Academy of Sciences Panel on the International
Magnetosphere Study.  He also served on the National Academy of
Science committees on space physics and solar terrestrial research. 
Between l969 and l975, Dr. Scarf was international vice-chairman, and
then chairman, of the International Union of Radio Science, Commission
IV (on the magnetosphere).  During this period, he was a member of the
U.S. National Committee for URSI (National Academy of Sciences) and a
member of its executive committee. 
 
    Recently, he served on the National Academy of Science Space
Science Board, and then on NASA's Space Science Advisory Board's
delegation to the joint (U.S./European) working group on planetary
exploration, and the NASA Headquarters Space and Earth Science
Advisory Committee.  Dr. Scarf was a member of the Solar System
Exploration Management and Council and chairman of the Solar Space
Physics Task Group for the Space Science Board's "Major Directions for
the Future" study. 
 
    Since 1986, he had been a research geophysicist for the Institute
of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the University of California at
Los Angeles. 
 
    Frederick Scarf was born in Philadelphia in 1930 and received his
B.S. degree in physics from Temple University in l95l, and his Ph.D.
in theoretical physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
l955.  Before joining TRW, he was a research associate at MIT and an
associate professor of physics at the University of Washington. 
 
    He is survived by his wife, Mimi, and children, Elizabeth, Robert,
Daniel and adopted son, Jon Wollman.  All live in the Los Angeles area.