Graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.S. in Astronomy in 1974 and did graduate work in Computer Science at USC. Before receiving her Astronomy degree, she joined Jet Propulsion Laboratory for temporary summer employment, and accepted a position after receiving her degree in the Outer Planet Satellite Ephemeris Development Group at Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a senior engineer (1974–1981). In March 1979, she discovered the anomalous “crescent” off the limb of Jupiter’s moon Io in a picture of Io taken by Voyager 1 for navigation, after the Voyager 1 close encounter with Jupiter. She proposed a series of hypotheses and conducted investigations to prove or disprove them, to identify the “crescent”. She was able to deduce that the observation was a plume erupting from the surface of Io, and volcanic in origin. Her discovery was announced to the world on March 12, 1979. This was the first non-Earth volcanic eruption ever witnessed and the first proof that other bodies in our solar system are geologically active. Her discovery of active geology on other worlds is heralded as one of the most important discoveries of the planetary exploration program. (Linda A. Morabito)
