CLASS OF 1953 WHO'S WHO & WHERE - The City College Fund

HAROLD ADELSON, Ph.D.Liberal Arts & Sciences (Major)B.A., Physics, CCNY, 1953M.A., Physics, UC Berkeley, 1955Ph.D., Physics, UC Berkeley, 1959From CCNY to Mars in 1976A gram of red soil drops into a stainless steel test cell. Tiny valves open and liquid nutrients areadded in precise amounts, along with special gases. Sensitive measurements are made of thechanges in the substances. The place is Mars, the year 1976, the laboratory is the Viking LanderBiology Instrument, and the question is…Is there life on Mars? Earth man’s search for life beyondearth has begun.Dr. Adelson was the last Project Manager of the Viking Lander Biology Instrument which initiatedthe search for extraterrestrial life on Mars. The job of developing the first exobiological miniaturelaboratory, called by Time magazine “one of the age’s technical masterpieces,” began in 1970 atTRW’s Space Park. More than a thousand man-years of work would be needed to create the final,highly successful, miniature biochemical laboratory. Two of these laboratories successfully completedtheir missions; the third was never launched and resides in the National Air and Space Museumin Washington, D.C. They have returned quantities of data which helped in the planning ofthe Martian Rovers which are currently patrolling the Martian surface.Dr. Adelson resided and was educated in the South Bronx. He earned Master and Ph.D. degrees atthe University of California at Berkeley. Opportunities with space experimentation increased dramaticallywith the appearance of Sputnik in 1957. Dr. Adelson participated in over 35 launches ofspace instrumentation and served as Director of TRW’s Research Applications Laboratory.Now retired, he lives in Los Angeles.