Dean Benjamin McLaughlin (born October 25, 1901,Brooklyn,^[1] New York City; died December 8, 1965,Ann Arbor, Michigan, US) was an Americanastronomer. He was a professor of astronomy at theUniversity of Michigan.^[2] He was the father of the science fiction authorDean B. McLaughlin, Jr. He received his B.S. (1923), his M.S. (1924) and his Ph.D. (1927) all from Michigan. McLaughlin married fellow astronomerLaura Elizabeth Hill in 1927.^[3]

McLaughlin was a professor at the University of Michigan for 38 years^[1] during which time he served as the doctoral advisor for other notable astronomers includingElizabeth Cornwall Tilley andBenjamin F. Peery.

In 1954, he proposed the theory that there arevolcanoes onMars and that their eruptions change thealbedo features called "mare" (The Martian equivalent ofLunar mare). His proposal was partially confirmed in 1971 with the arrival ofMariner 9, which showed that strong winds could move dust around the planet, creating the changes of appearance formerly attributed to some kind of vegetation.^[4]

Acrater on Marswas named in his honor, as is the craterMcLaughlin on the far side of the Moon and the asteroid2024 McLaughlin. In 2014 NASA scientists announced they had discovered evidence of water in Mars' McLaughlin Crater.^[5][6]

• Richard Alfred Rossiter
• Rossiter–McLaughlin effect

• Dean B. McLaughlin, Faculty History Project, U. Michigan
• The Ghosts of Astronomers Past by Rudi Paul Lindner

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