Marcia Neugebauer
Distinguished Visiting Scientist
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Education: BA degree from Cornell University
MS from the University of Illinois
Research Areas: space instrument design, solar wind analysis; Co-Principal Investigator of the Mariner-2 plasma analyzer.
Fields: Manager of the Physics and Space Physics sections, Acting Manager of the Mariner Mark II study team, Project Scientist for Rangers 1 and 2 and the Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby mission, Chaired Academy Committee on Solar and Space Physics.
Inducted into the WITI Hall of Fame June 5, 1997.
What was your first job and what did you learn from it?
I was a camp counselor one summer. Had a job drawing maps for the Army, and spent a couple of summers as publicity manager for a theater company.
In the technical area, I had a research position in grad school. When you study physics, you do an experiment one afternoon, you're done and you write your report. When you're working for a professor, you learn these things can be drawn out for a long, long time. In a class, if you get 75% of the answers right, you get a good grade. When you do real research, you have to do it until it is all right.
What are you most proud of?
Working on designing or inventing instruments that measured things that have never been measured before.
Who is your hero, mentor or person you most admire and why?
No one I would call a mentor, but there are certainly people I admire and like to interact with, whose comments on my papers I really value. I had a series of bosses that were willing to give me responsibility and take a chance on me.
What advice would you give to young women who want to enter your field?
It takes a lot of work - work hard. Going back to when I've seen young people who work for me, I often have to tell them to slow down and do it right. Quality is more important than quantity.
