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About ">About

Jim Bell

Jim Bell is a planetary scientist, educator, author, public speaker, and past President of The Planetary Society. Jim is heavily involved in NASA solar system exploration missions like those of the Mars rovers.  In 2011 he received the Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication from the American Astronomical Society. He is an avid writer for space-related magazines and blogs, and often appears in media interviews on space-related topics (Jim Bell's YouTube channel). His popular science and space photography books include Postcards from Mars (2006), Mars 3-D (2008), Moon 3-D (2009), The Space Book (2013), The Interstellar Age (2015), The Earth Book (2019), and Hubble Legacy (2020). Jim's latest book, coauthored with historian William Sheehan, is Discovering Mars (2021). Jim is a Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU, an Adjunct Professor in the Dept. of Astronomy at Cornell, and a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Jim on C-SPAN BookTV ">Jim on C-SPAN BookTV

Jim on C-SPAN BookTV Image

Jim is an active public speaker for both public and academic audiences, and as a member of the Penguin author's speaker's bureau, his talks cover a wide variety of space-related topics, with book talks on topics ranging from Exploring Mars with Rovers (Postcards from Mars), Viewing the Solar System in 3-D (Mars 3-D, Moon 3-D), and The Future of Space Exploration (The Space Book, The Interstellar Age), and other public-audience talks related to topics such as The Search for Life in the Universe, The Role of Science and Exploration in Society, and Building Bridges Between Engineers and Scientists. Jim would be delighted to consider sharing his passion for space exploration with your group. Please contact Jamie Knapp (jknapp@penguinrandomhouse.com) to arrange for an interview or speaking appearance.

Research Group ">Research Group

Jim's Class Field Trip and Research Group

Jim runs an active research program spanning many students and topics. Currently, active areas of research in his group include surface mineralogy and weathering history of Mars, surface composition and mineralogy of the Moon, and geologic processes on the surfaces of terrestrial planets, moons, and asteroids. A summary of Jim's Research Group can be found here, and links to recent research papers and conference presentations can be found here. For Jim's full publication list, click here.

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