Joseph Burns (March 22, 1941 – February 26, 2025) was a professor atCornell University with a dual appointment in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) and theAstronomy department. His primary area of research was dynamics inplanetary sciences.

Burns received his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1966.^[1] He held the position of Vice Provost of Research and Engineering from 2003 to 2008. Burns was the editor of the planetary science journalIcarus from 1980 to 1997.^[2] He has edited two books,Planetary Satellites (1977) andSatellites (1986). He was the Vice President of theAmerican Astronomical Society, as well as having chaired itsDivision for Planetary Sciences (DPS)^[3] andDivision on Dynamical Astronomy (DDA).^[4] He is the President of theIAU's commission on celestial mechanics and dynamical astronomy.^[5] Burns is a fellow of theAGU and theAAAS, a member of theInternational Academy of Astronautics, and a foreign member of theRussian Academy of Sciences. He received the DPS'sMasursky Award^[6] in 1994 for meritorious service to planetary science, and received the DDA'sBrouwer Award in 2013.^[7]

Burns is best known for his theoretical work on dynamical astronomy in theSolar System. In 1979 Burns definitively explained the effect of radiation forces on small particles in the Solar System.^[8] In 1998, Burns,Gladman,Nicholson, andKavelaars co-discoveredCaliban andSycorax, two moons ofUranus.^[9] He was a member of theGalileo Imaging Team and theCassini Imaging Team.

The Themistian asteroid2708 Burns, discovered byEdward Bowell in 1981, was named in his honor.^[10] The official naming citation was published by theMinor Planet Center on 4 August 1982 (M.P.C. 7158).^[11]

• Mark Showalter^[12] (discoverer ofPan, manager of thePDS Rings Node)
• Douglas Hamilton^[13] (Professor of Astronomy, University of Maryland)^[14]
• Bob Kolvoord^[15] (Professor, James Madison University)^[16]
• Brett J. Gladman^[17] (Professor, University of British Columbia)^[18]
• Ishan Sharma^[19] (Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur)^[20]

• List of minor planet discoverers § J. A. Burns

• Joe Burns's homepage

• 1941 births
• 2025 deaths
• 21st-century American astronomers
• Cornell University College of Engineering alumni
• Cornell University faculty
• Discoverers of minor planets
• American planetary scientists

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