A lifetime of scientific discovery has reinforced man's faith in God

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ^ | December 10, 2011 | Jim Stingl

[SunkenCiv]

He was too weak to travel to California last week for the announcement of the mission's first big success -- the discovery of planet Kepler-22b, a rock with similarities to Earth and a sweet-spot distance from its star that creates temperatures and other conditions that could support life.

"From what we have measured so far, we say water could exist. We don't say it's there," Koch said, tempering my excitement over when we get to meet our new neighbors...

Doctors made the ALS diagnosis in March 2009, the same month a rocket carried the Kepler telescope into space to begin its mission of staring at the stars. We can detect planets trillions of miles away, but so far the cause and cure for his disease are unknown...

But his mental acuity still shines through, even when discussing complicated aspects of space exploration...

Koch received a degree in applied math and engineering physics from UW-Madison and went on to graduate school at Cornell University. He remained out east working on X-ray astronomy and then on telescope projects at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

He went to work for NASA in 1988 at the Ames Research Center in California.

It was there he met William Borucki, who first developed the idea for the project. Koch eventually came up with the name for the mission, honoring Johannes Kepler, the 17th-century astronomer who discovered the laws of planetary motion...

Humans need to stay curious, Koch said, and we must keep exploring our own world and others. As a scientist, he hesitated to speculate about whether there are creatures like us elsewhere in the universe.

"Maybe we're unique," he said. "Maybe we're the only place where there is intelligent life. We don't know. That's what is so important about this first step."

[SunkenCiv]

[Mike De Sisti]

[SunkenCiv]

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[acapesket]

This poor fellow probably has ALS because he worked with the go vt during the cold war.

I too would renew my faith if I knew what this dude likely knew about what kind of junk the army has been doing to us since 1941!