Murray, Bruce C.

Bruce C. Murray was born November 30, 1931, in New York City. He earned a doctorate in Geology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1955, and served as a geologist for Standard Oil from 1955-58. After serving as a Geophysicist for the U.S. Air Force, Murray joined the Caltech faculty as a Research Fellow of Planetary Science and Geology in 1960. Murray became a full Professor of Planetary Science and Geology at Caltech in 1969.

Dr. Murray was a member of the Mars Television Teams on Mariners 4, 6, 7 and 9, and was the Television Team leader for the Mariner 10 flyby of Venus and Mercury. He was named Director of JPL on June 23, 1975, officially succeeding William H. Pickering on April 1, 1976.

During his administration at JPL, the Voyager spacecraft were launched and reached Jupiter and Saturn, Seasat was launched, and the Galileo and Magellan programs were approved by Congress. Murray advocated several ambitious planetary missions, which he called "Purple Pigeons," such as a Jupiter Orbiter Probe, a Venus Orbital Imaging Radar, a Mars rover mission, a Lunar Polar Orbiter and a Comet Halley rendezvous. Murray also advocated the preliminary study of an interstellar probe. Most of these missions were ultimately cancelled due to lack of funding or support. Beginning in the mid-1970s, programs at JPL were increasingly concentrated in non-space related projects involving energy and defense work.

Dr. Murray resigned as Lab Director in June 1982. He has remained active in space research. In 1979 he was a co-founder of The Planetary Society, and he became the Society's President on the death of Carl Sagan in 1997. He was a member of the scientific teams of the Russian Phobos '88 mission, the Russian Mars 96 and the U.S. Mars Global Surveyor missions, and the U.S. New Millennium Mars Microprobe Team. He has published over 120 scientific papers and authored or co-authored six books.

From the description of Bruce C. Murray Collection, 1975-1982. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733100871

Bruce C. Murray was born November 30, 1931, in New York City. He earned a doctorate in Geology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1955, and served as a geologist for Standard Oil from 1955-58. After serving as a Geophysicist for the U.S. Air Force, Murray joined the Caltech faculty as a Research Fellow of Planetary Science and Geology in 1960, and became a full Professor of Planetary Science and Geology at Caltech in 1969.

Dr. Murray was a member of the Mars Television Teams on Mariners 4, 6, 7 and 9, and was the Television Team leader for the Mariner 10 flyby of Venus and Mercury. He was named Director of JPL on June 23, 1975, officially succeeding William H. Pickering on April 1, 1976.

During his administration at JPL, the Voyager spacecraft were launched and reached Jupiter and Saturn, Seasat was launched, and the Galileo and Magellan programs were approved by Congress. Murray advocated several ambitious planetary missions, which he called "Purple Pigeons," such as a Jupiter Orbiter Probe, a Venus Orbital Imaging Radar, a Mars rover mission, a Lunar Polar Orbiter and a Comet Halley rendezvous. Murray also advocated the preliminary study of an interstellar probe. Most of these missions were ultimately cancelled due to lack of funding or support. Beginning in the mid-1970s, programs at JPL were increasingly concentrated in non-space related projects involving energy and defense work.

Dr. Murray resigned as Lab Director in June 1982. He has remained active in space research. In 1979 he was a co-founder of The Planetary Society, and he became the Society's President on the death of Carl Sagan in 1997. He was a member of the scientific teams of the Russian Phobos '88 mission, the Russian Mars 96 and the U.S. Mars Global Surveyor missions, and the U.S. New Millennium Mars Microprobe Team. He has published over 120 scientific papers and authored or co-authored six books.

From the description of Bruce C. Murray Chronological File Collection, 1976-1982. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733100864