كيفن غرازيير
كيفن آر. غرازيير عالم فيزياء كواكب أمريكي ، [ 2 ] اشتهر بعمله في مهمة كاسيني/هويجنز إلى زحل وتيتان، حيث شغل منصبَي مهندس تخطيط علمي وباحث علمي في نظام التصوير العلمي الفرعي. وهو خبير في الأساليب الحسابية وديناميكيات الكواكب، ويُجري عمليات محاكاة واسعة النطاق وطويلة الأمد لتطور النظام الشمسي المبكر وديناميكياته وفوضاه.
يملك غرازيير أكثر من عشرين منشورًا تقنيًا في مجالات علوم الكواكب، وعلم الأحياء الفلكي، والتحليل العددي، وعلوم الحاسوب، ومجلات عمليات المركبات الفضائية. كما أنه المستشار العلمي للعديد من المسلسلات التلفزيونية والأفلام، أبرزها مسلسلات " ديفايانس" ، و "باتلستار غالاكتيكا" ، و "يوريكا" ، وفيلمي "غرافيتي" و "قراصنة الكاريبي: الرجال الأموات لا يروون حكايات" . وقد ألّف غرازيير أو حرّر العديد من كتب العلوم الشعبية. وهو من سكان ستيرلينغ هايتس، ميشيغان . [ 3 ]
تعليم
التحق غرازيير بجامعة بيردو بمنحة دراسية من برنامج تدريب ضباط الاحتياط البحري (NROTC)، ولكن بسبب خضوعه لجراحة في الكاحل قبل الفصل الدراسي الأخير، تم استبعاده من الخدمة العسكرية. يحمل غرازيير شهادات بكالوريوس في علوم الحاسوب والجيولوجيا ، وشهادة ماجستير في الفيزياء من جامعة بيردو . كما يحمل شهادة بكالوريوس في الفيزياء من جامعة أوكلاند ، وشهادة ماجستير في الجيوفيزياء وفيزياء الفضاء من جامعة كاليفورنيا في لوس أنجلوس (UCLA). [ 4 ] أجرى غرازيير أبحاث الدكتوراه في جامعة كاليفورنيا في لوس أنجلوس، [ 2 ] والتي أهّلته للحصول على درجة الدكتوراه في فيزياء الكواكب تحت إشراف ويليام آي. نيومان عن أطروحته بعنوان "استقرار بيئات الكواكب الصغيرة في النظام الشمسي الخارجي: دراسة عددية". [ 4 ] عندما بدأ غرازيير بتلقي عروض عمل استشارية متكررة في مجال صناعة الترفيه، عاد إلى جامعة كاليفورنيا في لوس أنجلوس، وحصل على شهادة في كتابة السيناريو التلفزيوني.
حياة مهنية
مؤسسة راند
أثناء دراسته العليا في جامعة كاليفورنيا في لوس أنجلوس، عمل غرازيير في مؤسسة راند في سانتا مونيكا القريبة، حيث كان يُعالج صور المريخ التي التقطتها مركبة فايكينغ الفضائية لدعم مهمة مراقب المريخ. وعندما فُقدت المركبة الفضائية أثناء دخولها المدار، توقف الدعم عن العمل فورًا.
مهمة كاسيني/هويجنز إلى زحل وتيتان

Grazier was hired at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory while still in graduate school to write mission planning and analysis software, used primarily by the Cassini/Huygens Mission. Upon completion of his Ph.D., he was hired full-time onto Cassini as a Science System Engineer (later Science Planning Engineer) and, a short time later, as Investigation Scientist for the Imaging Science Subsystem—the visible light camera aboard the spacecraft. As a Science Planning Engineer, Grazier co-wrote an award-winning program called EVENTS which determined event times when spacecraft can make many different types of observations. Later, Grazier created the Cassini Tour Atlas, a large database with geometrical values and event times, used for mission and observation planning, flight rule constraint checking, and data analysis. Grazier led a small team that designed software to automatically regenerate the Tour Atlas for hypothetical spacecraft trajectories, or when the actual trajectory was subject to change. This software saved Cassini an estimated quarter of a million dollars, and earned a NASA Space Act Award, a NASA Board Act Award, and a NASA Tech Brief Award.
United States Military Academy
From July 2016 to July 2018, Grazier was an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, NY.
Astronomy Educator
Grazier has been an adjunct professor of astronomy at both Santa Monica College and Pierce College, having also taught evening classes on astronomy and the "Science of Science Fiction" at UCLA. From 1995 until 2011 he was a planetarium lecturer at Griffith Observatory, and performed over 700 planetarium shows.
Public Speaking

Grazier is a frequent public speaker about science, space, technology, and the portrayal of science and scientists by the entertainment industry. He has spoken to K-12 and college classes, given commencement addresses, spoken at film festivals, and gave a TEDx talk about the search for life in the Solar System. In 2011, he was the guest lecturer at the Launch Pad Workshop—held every year at the University of Wyoming in Laramie—that teaches writers basic physics and astronomy. He was a featured speaker at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Purdue University Department of Computer Sciences, as well as at the 2015 Stories about Science Conference at the University of Manchester in the UK, and the Communicating Science to the Public Conference in Cambridge, MA. He appears frequently at science fiction conventions, in particular Dragon*Con in Atlanta and San Diego Comic-Con.
NASA Consultant
Since 2001 Grazier has been consulting on NASA educational product review panels.
Science Advisor
Grazier and co-author Ges Seger submitted an unsolicited Star Trek: Voyager script to Paramount whilst Grazier was in grad school at UCLA. Based upon the strength of that script, they were invited by showrunner Jeri Taylor to pitch stories to the writing staff. At Paramount, Grazier met staff writers Bryan Fuller and Michael Taylor.[2] It was Fuller who pitched Grazier to Ronald D. Moore as the science advisor on Battlestar Galactica in 2003, and he has been a consultant for Hollywood productions since.[5]
TV series
| Start year | End year | Name | Reference(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2014 | Ascension | [5][6] |
| Battlestar Galactica | [7] | ||
| 2012 | 2012 | Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome | [5][7] |
| 2011 | -- | Defiance | [7] |
| 2005 | 2011 | Eureka | [7] |
| 2011 | 2015 | Falling Skies | [5][7] |
| The Event | [7] | ||
| The Zula Patrol | [4] |
Films
| Year | Name | Reference(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Gravity | [7] |
| 2014 | ETXR | [5] |
| 2016 | Inversion | [5] |
| 2017 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales | [5] |
Shorts
| Year | Name | Reference(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | D.N.E.: Do Not Erase | [5][7] |
Books
- Hollyweird Science: The Next Generation: From Spaceships to Microchips (co-authored by Stephen Cass, 2017)[2][7]
- Hollyweird Science: From Quantum Quirks to the Multiverse (co-authored by Stephen Cass, 2015)[2][7]
- Hollywood Chemistry: When Science Met Entertainment (editor and contributing author, 2011)[7]
- The Science of Battlestar Galactica (co-author, 2010)[7][8]
- Fringe Science: Parallel Universes, White Tulips, and Mad Scientists, editor.
- The Science of Michael Crichton, editor
- The Science of Dune: An Unauthorized Exploration into the Real Science Behind Frank Herbert's Fictional Universe, editor and contributing author.[9]
- Essay in Halo Effect: The Unauthorized Look at the Most Successful Video Game of All Time on the science behind Halo.[10]
TV appearances

Awards and honors
While at JPL, Grazier won numerous JPL and NASA technical and software awards, including two NASA Space Act Awards, two NASA Tech Brief Awards, a NASA New Technology Award, and a Multimission Ground Systems Office Achievement Award.
In 2001, Grazier was the honorary chairperson of the first-ever Oakland University "Week of Champions" (homecoming) celebration.
In 2005, along with the cast and crew of Battlestar Galactica, Grazier won a George Foster Peabody Award, given yearly "For significant and meritorious achievement in broadcasting and cable."
In 2008, he attended the invitation-only Sci-Foo unconference at Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA.
in 2011, Grazier won the Oakland University Odyssey Award for the alumni whose career most typifies the university motto "To Seek Virtue and Knowledge."
In 2013, Grazier was honored as an Outstanding Alumnus by the Purdue University School of Science.
References
- ↑Grazier, Kevin Robert (1997). "The Stability of Planetesimal Niches in the Outer Solar System: a Numerical Investigation". Ph.D. Thesis: 4276. Bibcode:1997PhDT.........9G.
- 12345"Science Adviser to the Stars: Q&A with Kevin Grazier". Discover Magazine. September 5, 2013. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
- ↑"Visiting Researcher Profile: Dr. Kevin Grazier"(PDF). Universities Space Research Association. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
- 123"Kevin Grazier". Battlestar Wiki. May 5, 2011. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
- 12345678910"Kevin R. Grazier". IMDb. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
- ↑"Guest Update". Timegate. November 26, 2014. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
- 123456789101112131415"Kevin R. Grazier bio". IMDb. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
- ↑Patrick Di Justo; Kevin Grazier; Patrick Grazier & Kevin Grazier (2010). The Science of Battlestar Galactica. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 181. ISBN 978-0470399095.
- ↑The Science of Dune: An Unauthorized Exploration into the Real Science Behind Frank Herbert's Fictional Universe. Amazon. December 11, 2007. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
- ↑Grazier, Kevin (2006). "Halo Science 101". In Glenn Yeffeth (ed.). Halo Effect: The Unauthorized Look at the Most Successful Video Game of All Time. Dallas, Texas: BenBella Books. ISBN 1-933771-11-9.
External links
- Living people
- American planetary scientists
- Purdue University alumni
- Oakland University alumni
- University of California, Los Angeles alumni
- Planetary scientists
