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Chance, Kelly

Senior Physicist

Molecular spectroscopy, structure, and dynamics and their application to atmospheric studies; laboratory spectroscopy and satellite-based measurements of the Earth's atmosphere, particularly of atmospheric pollutants and greenhouse gases; atmospheric composition and radiative transfer.

Background And Education

Education And Training

Awards And Honors

International Audience Summary Of Expertise

  • Kelly Chance is a senior physicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and a recognized leader in atmospheric science.

    At the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) he leads the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) project to measure air pollution. In 1985, he and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry introduced a method of space-based UV/visible spectroscopy to measure the troposphere (the lowest layer of atmosphere). For more than 30 years, Kelly has been researching at SAO and teaching about atmospheric science at Harvard.

    Kelly received the Smithsonian Secretary’s 2013 Innovative Spirit Award—and a NASA Earth Venture Instrument Project award—for his work on TEMPO. Author of more than 150 scientific publications, he is also a member of multiple scientific committees and working groups to government and academic institutions, including NASA and the European Space Agency. Kelly earned his PhD in Chemical Physics at Harvard in 1978.

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Research And Grants

Publications

Selected Publications

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