Distinguished Lecturer, Mark Hammergren, PhD, Astronomer

Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum

Mark Hammergren received his PhD in astronomy from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1998, and spent three years as a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory before taking his current position as an Astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. His research interests include asteroids (particularly the near-Earth asteroids), impact-induced mass extinctions, and the history and sociology of flying saucer phenomenon. Dr. Hammergren is also very involved in education and outreach efforts. Until 2005, he was the Academic Director of the Summer Science Program in Socorro, New Mexico, one of the oldest and most prestigious science programs for gifted high school studentsl. Dr. Hammergren is currently Director of the AstroScience Workshop, a challenging program for high school students in astronomy that originated more than 40 years ago, sponsored by the Adler and the National Science Foundation.

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