Aden Meinel

Who was Aden Meinel?

Aden B. Meinel was an American astronomer. He retired in 1993 as a Distinguished Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He also held the rank of Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences. His research interests have included upper atmospheric physics, glass technology, optical design, instrumentation and space systems.

Meinel received his Ph.D from the University of California, Berkeley in 1949. His dissertation is entitled A Spectrographic Study of the Night Sky and Aurora in the Near Infrared. In 1954, he was awarded the Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy by the American Astronomical Society. He was president of the Optical Society of America in 1972 and was awarded the Frederic Ives Medal in 1980. He received the George Van Biesbroeck Prize in 1990.