Leonid Ksanfomaliti

Biography from Don Mitchell's website: L.V. Ksanfomaliti graduated from the Leningrad Technical University in 1956, and after working at the Abastumani Observatory, he joined the Space Research Institute (IKI) in 1968. He is Chief of the Laboratory on Photometry and Thermal Radiometry. Mars-3 to Mars-7 included thermal, visual and ultraviolet radiometers of his design. During the Venera-9 and 10 mission, he worked on infrared and ultraviolet spectroscopy and imaging, helping to analyze the structure and dynamics of the Venusian clouds. His famous GROZA sensors on Venera-11 to Venera-14 were the first devices to detect intense lightening storms on Venus. Ksanfomaliti has continued his work on infrared spectroscopy and the study of cometary dust, with the Vega mission to Halley's comet and the 1988 Fobos mission to Mars. Recent work has included study of water and possibilities of life on Mars, and a new Earth-based imaging technique has produced images of unseen portions of the surface of Mercury.