El-Baz, Farouk, 1938-

Farouk El-Baz (b. Jan. 2, 1938, Mansoura, Egypt) received degrees from Ain Shams University, the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, and the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He was appointed Science Adviser to President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and taught at Assiut University, Egypt and the Heidelberg University, Germany. From 1967-1972 he was a key scientists for the NASA Apollo Program; he helped determine the best location for lunar landing. In 1973, he worked for NASA again as principal investigator of the Earth Observations and Photography Experiment on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. After the Apollo Program ended, El-Baz joined the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC to establish and direct the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum. He was vice president of Itek Optical Systems and later a professor at Boston University.