Merton Davies

Merton Edward Davies ( * September 13 1917 in St. Paul, USA, † 17 April 2001 in Santa Monica, California ) was an American astronomer. He received his education at Stanford University and worked from 1940 to 1948 for the Douglas Aircraft Company. In 1948, he joined the Rand Corporation when it was split off from Douglas, and did there emerged as a pioneer in the field of spy satellites. Among other things, he worked at the Corona project. Although the majority of his work in this area of confidentiality is subject to, he was on 18 August 2000 by the National Reconnaissance Office for his invention of the spinning - Pan used in the Keyhole satellites ( torque- compensated ) Camera and participation in numerous espionage committees during the 1950s and excellent early 60s.

He used in the late 1960s his knowledge with satellites and space for planetary research and participated in the Mariner program, where he evaluated the returned from the Mariner probes Mars images. He was responsible for the creation of a geodetic reference network for mapping the surface of Mars, and many other bodies of the solar system.

At the time of his death he was described by Torrence Johnson, the project manager of the Galileo project, as the one who alone has observed a larger part of the solar system than any other person ("single - handedly observing more of the solar system than any other human" ).

The crater Davies on Mars was named after him.