Christine Floss

Christine Floss (1961–2018) was a German-born American cosmochemist whose research involved studying the atomic composition of meteorites, interplanetary dust, and moon rocks in order to understand the formation of the Solar System.[1] She was a research professor of physics at Washington University in St. Louis, affiliated with the university's Laboratory for Space Sciences and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences.[2][3]

Early life and education

Floss was born in Munich, but moved to the US with her family as a child of five.[4] She majored in German at Purdue University, graduating in 1983,[3] but cast around in many directions for a career, eventually finding her life interest in a geology class she took to fulfil a general education requirement.[5] Floss earned a second bachelor's degree in geology from Indiana University, in 1987,[3] with a senior thesis on moon rocks advised by Abhijit Basu.[5]

She completed a Ph.D. in geochemistry at Washington University in St. Louis in 1991, under the supervision of Ghislaine Crozaz.[3] Her dissertation was Rare earth element and other trace element microdistributions in two unusual extraterrestrial igneous systems: The enstatite achondrite (aubrite) meteorites and the lunar ferroan anorthosites.[6] She entered the doctoral program already married, with two children; the marriage ended during her graduate studies.[5] Crozaz later wrote: "She was definitely one of our best students, and I wondered how she managed to complete her PhD in only four years while at the same time raising two young girls".[3]

Career and later life

She became a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany,[2] "mostly for personal reasons": following her future husband, Frank Stadermann, a German researcher in the same specialty whom she had met when he was a visiting student at Washington University.[5] They married in 1993,[2] and had another child before returning together to Washington University in 1996.[7] Floss became a research scientist in the Laboratory for Space Sciences. Eventually she became a research professor.[2]

Her husband died at age 48, in 2010, of a cerebral hemorrhage.[7] She was found dead on April 19, 2018 of a heroin overdose.[3][8] At the time of her death, she was in the process of becoming a regular full professor at Washington University.[1]

Recognition

Asteroid 6689 Floss, discovered in 1981 by Schelte J. Bus, was named for Floss.[2][9] A special issue of the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science was published in her memory in 2020.[1] A lunar crater was named after her in 2023.[10]

References
  1. Haenecour, Pierre; Bose, Maitrayee (May 2020), "Understanding our solar system history through in situ nanoscale analysis of extraterrestrial materials: A special issue for Dr. Christine Floss", Meteoritics & Planetary Science, Wiley, 55 (6): 1153–1159, doi:10.1111/maps.13489, S2CID 219494000
  2. "Christine Floss, 1961–2018", Lunar and Planetary Information Bulletin, Lunar and Planetary Institute, no. 155, p. 34, January 2019
  3. "Obituary: Christine Floss, research professor in physics, 56", The Record, Washington University in St. Louis, 23 April 2018
  4. "Christine Floss", Solar system exploration, NASA, retrieved 2023-08-04
  5. Niebur, Susan (5 October 2010), "Christine Floss: There are many definitions of success", Women in Planetary Science
  6. "Christine Floss", AstroGen, American Astronomical Society, retrieved 2023-08-04
  7. Zinner, Ernst (September 2010), "Frank J. Stadermann 1962–2010", Meteoritics & Planetary Science, Wiley, 45 (9): 1527–1528, doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2010.01159.x
  8. Bogan, Jesse (20 May 2018), "Washington University space scientist who yearned to help ex-con dies from apparent overdose", St. Louis Post-Dispatch
  9. "6689 Floss (1981 EQ24)", Small-Body Database, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, retrieved 2023-08-04
  10. "Planetary Names". planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2023-09-06.

Further reading
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