The event will feature student projects alongside models, awards and more donated to Edward Stone Middle School from the late scientist’s family.
At the end of this month, Edward Stone Middle School will open its doors to the community as it celebrates student education and honors its namesake.
Student Spotlight will be from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, April 28, at the school. Visitors are asked to enter through the gymnasium doors on the building’s southwest end.
“Student Spotlight will encompass student work, artifacts from the late Dr. Edward Stone that were graciously donated by his family, and allow for students and teachers to interact with the community,” Principal Alec Clark said. “The event will showcase the work of Edward Stone, for whom our school is named.”
The event will begin with welcoming remarks in the auditorium and recognition of the family of the late Dr. Edward Stone, a Burlington High School graduate who went on to become the director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and project scientist of the voyager mission. Dr. Stone’s family will be traveling to Burlington from California to attend the event.
“All at Edward Stone are thankful for the contributions and generosity of Dr. Stone’s family as we are able to make this very special Student Spotlight possible,” Clark said.
Following the welcome in the gymnasium, attendees will be able to view student work on display in the commons areas of each of the school’s three floors before entering the auditorium, where they’ll be able to view the more than 30 items donated to the school by Dr. Stone’s family.
Among them are a model of the Voyager spacecraft, which was among Dr. Stone’s most treasured possessions. Launched in 1977, Voyagers 1 and 2 — or, as Dr. Stone called them, “Earth’s ambassadors to the stars” — are the only spacecraft ever to operate outside the heliosphere, which is the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields generated by the sun. Dr. Stone was the project scientist for the Voyager missions for 50 years.
Other models that will be on display include an Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft and an Orbiting Geophysical Observatory spacecraft.
Also available for viewing will be numerous awards, medals and accolades achieved by Dr. Stone throughout his lifetime for his contributions to America’s space programs.
From Iowa to NASA
Dr. Stone was born on Jan. 23, 1936, in Knoxville, Iowa, the son of Edward Sr. and Ferne Stone, and grew up in Burlington. In 1954, he graduated from Burlington High School, where he served as the yearbook editor in chief and as secretary of his senior class. He also was voted “Most Likely to Succeed.”
After graduating from BHS, Stone went on to attend Burlington Junior College, now Southeastern Community College, where he earned an associate of arts degree in physics. He then attended the University of Chicago, where he achieved a master’s degree and doctorate.
The 1957 launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union furthered his interest in space exploration and cosmic rays, and he performed his first cosmic ray experiments in 1961 while working on an Air Force spy satellite, according to The New York Times.
and Edward Stone, who were voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by their
high school class.
In 1962, Dr. Stone married Alice Wickliffe, who died in 2023.
Two years after their marriage, Dr. Stone joined Caltech’s faculty. In 1972, while a professor at Caltech, he became the chief project scientist for the Voyager missions, which produced the first high-resolution images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, lightning on Jupiter and lava lakes on Jupiter’s moon Io. For his leadership on the Voyager project, Dr. Stone was honored with the 1991 National Medal of Science from President George H.W. Bush. A picture of Dr. Stone alongside President Bush and others in the Oval Office is among the items that will be on display during Student Spotlight.
Throughout his lifetime, Dr. Stone served on a total of nine NASA missions, either as principal investigator or a science instrument lead, and on five others as a co-investigator.
“Ed Stone was a trailblazer who dared mighty things in space,” Nicola Fox, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement. “Ed took humanity on a planetary tour of our solar system and beyond, sending NASA where no spacecraft had gone before.”
From 1991-2001, Dr. Stone served as the director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. During that time, he was responsible for more than two dozen missions and instruments including the Pathfinder mission with the first Mars rover and the launch of the NASA-European Space Agency.
Throughout his numerous scientific endeavors, Dr. Stone continued to serve as the Voyager project’s project scientist until retiring in 2022. He died June 9, 2024, at the age of 88.
He is survived by two daughters, Susan Stone and Janet Stone, and two grandsons.
