Michael J. Buonsanto Memorial Lecture Series

For a list of past speakers, please see the Buonsanto Memorial Lecture Series archive.

Buonsanto Lecture 2023

The 23rd annual Michael J. Buonsanto Memorial Lecture was presented by Juha Vierinen, of University of Tromsø, Norway.

The Buonsanto Lecture topic this year was “Unlocking the Mysteries of Space with Radio Technology: Reflections on the Past, Present, and Future.”

Date: Wednesday, November 1, 2023
Time: 3:00 p.m. ET (Eastern time)

The 2023 Buonsanto Lecture recording will be made available shortly.

Abstract

Michael Buonsanto possessed a remarkable ability to synthesize scientific insights from measurements produced by a wide range of instruments. His work was founded on three key pillars: scientific collaborations, innovative analysis techniques, and the synthesis of observations with modeling and theory. This lecture will provide a subjective review of the progress in radio remote sensing instrumentation and measurement analysis techniques over the past two decades, highlighting the enduring impact of Michael’s contributions. Additionally, the lecture will endeavor to forecast the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.
 

About the Speaker

Juha Vierinen is an experimentalist who works across a range of themes within space physics. He specializes in the development of novel radar and radio remote sensing measurement techniques, and applies them to scientific studies in the field of space plasma physics, atmospheric physics, space debris, and planetary science. Much of his work is conducted with high-power large aperture radars, ionospheric heating facilities, ionosonde networks, meteor radar networks, radio telescopes, and global navigation satellite networks.

About the series

Dr. Michael J. Buonsanto (1952–1999) was a key member of the Atmospheric Sciences Group at MIT Haystack Observatory from January 1988 until his sudden and untimely death on 21 October 1999. As an MIT Principal Research Scientist, he made many important scientific contributions to studies of the Earth’s upper atmosphere, and was an outstanding and cherished colleague, mentor, and friend. In his honor, Haystack Observatory has established an annual memorial lecture on space science topics at the forefront of the atmospheric science research field.

At Haystack, Buonsanto specialized in mid-latitude physics and chemistry of the upper atmosphere and effects of magnetic storms, significantly advancing these fields worldwide through numerous publications done in wide-ranging collaborations with members of the international aeronomy and space physics community. He was the driving force behind the highly productive US Coupling Energetics and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) program’s STORM working group, and was elected to the CEDAR Science Steering Committee. Despite his short career, Michael’s scientific output was prodigious, authoring over 70 refereed scientific articles. He was the single author on 13 of these articles, most notably his 1999 ionospheric storms review paper which continues to be highly referenced today with 650+ citations.

Michael J. Buonsanto (1952–1999)
Michael J. Buonsanto (1952–1999)

Buonsanto was a graduate of Northwestern University and received Masters degrees in Education and Astronomy from Tufts University and Boston University, respectively, working with Professor Michael Mendillo. He earned his PhD in Engineering from the University of Auckland (New Zealand) under Professor John Titheridge, and devoted most of the 1980s to religious education, teaching, and ionospheric research while living among the people of the Fiji Islands. Michael’s career was characterized by intellectual honesty along with a deep openness and willingness to work with and educate others. Students from middle school to graduate school reaped numerous benefits from his dedicated guidance and supervision. Postdoctoral researchers, visiting scholars, and fellow researchers spanning the globe (whose only contact with him was sometimes online) received his full attention and careful assistance with the datasets needed to further their research.

Buonsanto was an excellent and organized scientist whose many seminal contributions span a wide range of topics in ionospheric physics. His untimely death was a great loss to the community. Michael’s work continues today through the lasting international impacts of his insightful physics, enduring journal articles, research by former students, and in the efforts of his dedicated scientific colleagues.