Kenneth Franklin

Kenneth Linn Franklin (March 25, 1923 – June 18, 2007) was an American astronomer and educator. He served as the chief scientist at the Hayden Planetarium from 1956 to 1984. Franklin is best known for his co-credit in discovering radio waves originating from Jupiter, making it the first detection of signals from another planet. He gained national recognition as an on-camera astronomy expert for NBC during the Apollo 11 mission. Born in Alameda, California, Franklin earned an A.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1944, followed by a bachelor's degree in 1948. He later obtained a Ph.D. from Berkeley in 1953 and conducted research at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Washington from 1954 to 1956.