Wolf V. Vishniac

Vladimir Wolf Vishniac ( born April 22, 1922 in Berlin, † 10 December 1973) was an American microbiologist and the son of Roman Vishniac. He was a professor of biology at the University of Rochester. He died on a research trip to Antarctica in an attempt to salvage equipment from a column. Vishniac made ​​a great contribution to the search for life on Mars by developing a mini laboratory which could be sent to the planet. This research has been subsidized since 1959 by NASA, which was a first for the field of life sciences. The Mars probe Viking 1 contained such a device, but could detect no conclusive signs of life.

Carl Sagan tribute in his television show Cosmos: A Personal Voyage in the sequence Blues for a Red Planet ministry, and the death of his friend Vishniac and presented its microbiological sensor, which he called in allusion to the name jokingly Wolf trap ( Wolf Trap ). The unit should be in the Viking program to be used, but then fell victim to budget cuts. The crater Vishniac on Mars is named after Wolf Vishniac.

• Microbiologist
• Americans
• Born in 1922
• Died in 1973
• Man