Michael Janssen

Prior to his retirement in 2017, Michael Janssen had nearly fifty years of experience in radio astronomy, specializing in the microwave remote sensing of the Earth and solar system, observational astrophysics and cosmology, and the development and application of microwave instrumentation for astrophysics and remote sensing. In his early years he played leading roles in the development of the world’s first two millimeter-wavelength radio interferometers, and subsequently participated as Co-Investigator or Principal Investigator in a number of space-borne microwave experiments. He was a Co-I and member of the Science Working Group for the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and played a major role in implementing the COBE Differential Microwave Radiometer experiment on COBE, which discovered the origin of structure in the universe. In the same period, he edited and made significant contributions to a book on the microwave remote sensing of atmospheres that is still widely used in the field. He took a temporary time-out in the late 90’s to help with the management of the Earth & Space Sciences Division at JPL, where he worked in several areas to improve the climate for research in the Division and at the Laboratory in general. Recent mission involvement includes participation in the Cassini, Planck, Rosetta and Juno missions. At the time of his retirement, he had active flight involvements including lead for the Cassini RADAR radiometer and PI for the Juno Microwave Radiometer, in orbit around Jupiter since July 2016. He remains active in the ongoing Juno mission and as a collaborator on a new Cassini Data Analysis Program to study Saturn’s atmosphere using archived Cassini data.