Richard W. Schmude, Jr.

Dr. Richard W. Schmude, Jr., was born in Washington, D.C., and attended public school in Cabin John, Maryland; Los Angeles, California; and Houston, Texas. He graduated from Texas A & M University with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, and a few years later, another Bachelor’s degree in Physics. Later, he obtained a Master’s degree in Physical Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry. He worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a graduate research assistant from 1990 to 1992. While at Los Alamos, he purchased his first photometer and began measuring the brightness of Uranus and Neptune.

In 1990, Richard was appointed Coordinator of the Remote Planets section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers. He began teaching at Gordon College in Barnesville, Georgia, in 1994 and has taught chemistry, physics, astronomy, and physical science there ever since. He has published over 100 scientific papers in many different journals and has given many talks and workshops to community organizations.

[from page xi of Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and How to Observe Them, published in 2008]