Duncan Steel
Duncan Steel, a graduate of the University of London, was awarded his Ph.D. in 1985 by the University of Canterbury. Currently principal research scientist with the Ball Solutions Group, the Australian subsidiary of Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation, he is also a visiting researcher at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at Macquarie University, and vice-president of the Spaceguard Foundation, which has its headquarters at the European Space Research Institute near Rome. He has worked on space missions for both NASA and ESA (European Space Agency), and is an expert on radar observations of meteors, optical tracking of asteroids and comets, orbital mechanics, the cosmic impact hazard, and the mathematics of calendars. He has written four books, over 130 scientific research papers, and hundreds of articles for magazines and newspapers, and appeared on many space-related television and radio documentaries. Minor planet 4713 Steel is named for him, as is a lunar-roving robot in Arthur C. Clarke≠s novel The Hammer of God.
