Master and the Grasshopper

My name is Andrea Balbas.  I am a geology student at Queens College.  During my summer here at Goddard Space Flight Center, I am a team lead working on the Lunar Water and Helium-3 detection project.

As a geologist, there are many reasons why I am excited about our upcoming trip to Sudbury.  However, I am by far most excited about experiencing the Sudbury Basin while under the guidance of Paul Lowman.  I could certainly rattle off a list of Paul Lowman’ s unbelievable experiences and accomplishments.  The list might begin with teaching the Apollo astronauts about geology or being good friends with my geologic hero Gene Shoemaker, or even helping to pioneer geodesy science.  These are things that would certainly impress the world.  However, as a struggling geologist and scientist I am more moved by his scientific virtue.  Paul Lowman could have easily hung his hat on the accomplishments and research stemming from the Apollo program.  Instead, he has maintained his hunt for geologic truth.  He does not defy others hypotheses for the simple pleasure of defying or perhaps garnering attention.  He does it because he is a keen observer and believes that every anomaly deserves further investigation.  In short, he is a good scientist.  Throughout his years full of proposal writing, budget juggling, and administration changes, he has maintained a tight grip on his scientific and personal integrity.  His unyielding scientific integrity is ever present in his book, “Exploring Space Exploring Earth.”  In his book he challenges the “all-encompassing theory” of plate tectonics and he does so with data, observation, and valid questions.  Lowman has the courage to ask bold scientific questions and the tenacity to seek out the answers through meticulous data gathering.  His work is evidence that the power of science lies more in asking powerful questions than nailing down declarative nicely packaged answers.  Paul Lowman is the acme of examples illustrating that great scientists are not followers and keepers of fact but explorers cutting a new path with carefully crafted questions.  I intend on sitting next to him on the bus, with a few questions of my own.