Michael Pearlman Awarded Gold Medal of Merit by the Russian Academy of Sciences

The Scientific Board of the Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAA RAS) has awarded Dr. Michael Pearlman with a 2014 Gold Medal of Merit for his outstanding contribution to the development of space geodesy and creation of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS).

Mike joined SAO in 1968 and has a long history of working with space geodesy groups in many regions, including Russia, China, India, Europe, Africa, Australia, Japan, and South America. He is the Director of the Central Bureau of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS), an entity under the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), which coordinates laser-ranging activities to satellites and the moon by 40 organizations around the world to support Earth Science and Global Change studies. He is also the Director of the Bureau of Networks and Observations within the IAG's GGOS, which helps integrate space geodesy techniques to develop data products such as the International Terrestrial Reference Frame.

The IAA RAS Gold Medal of Merit is a lifetime achievement award that has been awarded annually since 1992.