Donald M. Hunten

Donald M. Hunten 3/1/1925 – 12/14/2010 was a loving husband, father, friend, and great space scientist. He is survived by his present wife Ann Louise Sprague; first wife and mother of his children, Isobel Ann Hunten, and his sons, Keith and Mark; grandchildren mourn his loss, Timothy, Ryan, Casey, Derek, and Evelyn Hunten; in addition, two step children, Siddhi Littlejohn of New Zealand, Deborah Tyler of Maryland and five New Zealand grandchildren deeply miss him, Bereti, Kohl, Alicia, Miriana, and Whaea Freedom. Born in Montreal, he attended the Western Ontario University then earned a Ph.D. from McGill University. While an assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan he wrote an analogue electronics text book used for many years by universities. He brought his family to Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson in 1963. In 1977 he became a professor of Planetary Sciences at The University of Arizona where he became a Regents Professor. In 1982 he was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. He was preeminent among those who developed the ground-based instruments to understand the excitation of Earth's airglow and aurora. He helped explain Mars atmospheric losses, and envisioned and organized the Pioneer Venus mission that measured Venus' atmosphere and space environment. With extraordinary insight, he described escape of hydrogen from the planets, and correctly surmised that Titan must have a massive, molecular nitrogen atmosphere. He analyzed data from the Galileo Probe into Jupiter's atmosphere and helped design of the Cassini-Huygens mission, now at Saturn. He described how sunlight releases trace gases from the surfaces of Mercury and the Moon. He has been an inspiration and mentor to his family and to many of the new generation of Planetary Scientists. A Memorial Service will be held to celebrate Donald's life at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, February 25, 2011 at the Kuiper Space Sciences Bldg., The University of Arizona. Friends, family, and colleagues are welcome. Arrangements by GREEN VALLEY MORTUARY & CEMETERY INC.