Stamatios Krimigis

Stamatios (Tom) Mike Krimigis (; born September 10, 1938) is a Greek-American space physicist, who contributed to multiple space probe missions. He has contributed to exploration missions to almost every planet of the Solar System. In 1999, the International Astronomical Union named the asteroid 8323 Krimigis (previously 1979 UH) in his honor. He holds the Chair of Science of Space at the Academy of Athens, Greece, Krimigis also participated in establishing NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost planetary missions, as well as the New Frontiers program, for which the APL-built New Horizons to Pluto was the first mission. He is also a co-investigator on the Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018.

He is co-investigator for LAN/HI-SCALE on Ulysses solar polar orbiter, EPIC on GEOTAIL, EDP for Galileo mission, TRD on Mariner 3, and for the LECR on Mariner 4. Krimigis has also worked on the Cassini, Advanced Composition Explorer, the Mariner 5, MESSENGER and New Horizons programs.

In 2016, Krimigis received NASA's highest service honor, the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, for his lifelong efforts to advance space exploration and science.

Research contributions Krimigis's research has focused on the study of the magnetospheres of planets and the heliosphere.

Krimigis's publication record spans from "Interplanetary diffusion model for time behavior of intensity in a solar cosmic ray event," published in the Journal of Geophysical Research in 1965, to "Search for the exit: Voyager 1 at heliosphere's border with the galaxy," published in Science in 2013. Krimigis has published nearly 600 articles in scientific journals and books, on solar observations, planetary magnetospheres, and the charged particles in the interplanetary space. Krimigis has over 21,000 citations. Hellenic Physical Society Award, for major contributions to science in Greece and abroad (May 11, 2015) American Astronomical Society Space Flight Award (2015) NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (2016) International Academy of Astronautics von Karman Award (2017) Homeric Award from the Chian Federation of America (2005) Over 40 NASA and ESA Group Achievement Awards