Biographical information

Dr. Morrison received his Ph.D. in Astronomy from Harvard University and has spent most of his career working in planetary science. Prior to joining NASA he was Professor of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, where he also directed the 3-meter NASA Infrared Telescope Facility of Mauna Kea Observatory and served for two years as University Vice Chancellor for Research. He has been an investigator on the Mariner 10, Voyager, CRAF, Galileo, and Kepler space missions. Internationally known for his research on the solar system, he is the author of more than 155 technical papers and has published a dozen books, including the leading undergraduate college text in planetary science.

Morrison is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the California Academy of Sciences. He is recipient of the Dryden Medal for research of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Sagan Medal of the American Astronomical Society for public communication, and the Klumpke-Roberts award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for contributions to science education. Asteroid 2410 Morrison is named in his honor.[1][2]

Morrison on 2012

David Morrison has been answering public questions at the NASA Astrobiology Institute in his Ask an Astrobiologist page for years. David has taken the time to address the 2012 rumors in detail.

Stories about the fictional planet Nibiru and predictions of doomsday in December 2012 have blossomed on the Internet. There are now (June 2009) more than 175 books listed on Amazon.com dealing with the 2012 doomsday. As this hoax spreads, many more disaster scenarios are being suggested. “Ask an Astrobiologist” has received nearly a thousand questions about Nibiru and 2012, with more than 200 answers posted. Many new questions are similar to those already answered.

Read the rest of David Morrison's opinion, and watch a short video of David talking about the 2012 rumors at Nibiru and Doomsday 2012: Questions and Answers

Special to 2012hoax.org

Recently Dr. Morrison forwarded his response to one of the "2012" questions he received at the Ask an Astrobiologist page, and we asked permission to reprint it. He the forwarded the following information to us with his permission to use it on this site.

IS NIBIRU (PLANET X) REAL?

Many people believe in Nibiru in spite of the absence of evidence that it does exist or that it is a planet observed by the ancient Sumerians. The burden of proof should lie with those who claim there is a planet (or maybe a brown dwarf) on a 3600-year orbit that passes through the inner solar system and will approach Earth in 2012. They have failed to provide any such credible evidence. But we can take the initiative and give five "proofs" that Nibiru does not exist.

(1) Any planet that passes frequently through the inner solar system would mess up the orbits of the inner planets. If it existed, our Moon would have been stripped away and the orbits of Venus and Earth made highly elliptical. The current orbits of the Moon and planets provide strong proof that no large object has penetrated the inner solar system for millions of years.

(2) Any large object in the solar system out as far as Neptune or Pluto would have been seen in numerous telescopic surveys such as those that are discovering thousands of new asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects every year. These surveys have not found Nibiru because it is not there.

(3) NASA's space-based infrared surveys such as the recent WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission are even more sensitive than optical surveys for objects in the outer solar system. None of them has found Nibiru. If it existed, it could easily have been picked up by its infrared emission any time in the past several decades.

(4) If Nibiru were just 24 months from closest approach to Earth in 2012, it would already be well inside the orbit of Jupiter and would be visible to the naked eye from all over the world. Even if it were an unusually small or dark planet it would be seen and tracked by tens of thousands of professional and amateur astronomers.

(5) Any planetary mass approaching the inner solar system would perturb other planets by its gravitational attraction. Astronomers would already be seeing changes in the orbits of Mars and the Earth. There have been no such changes detected.

David Morrison
24 November 2010

Video on Fora TV

David Morrison has a 59-Minute video hosted at Fora TV titled 'Surviving 2012 and Other Cosmic Disasters".

http://fora.tv/2010/04/24/David_Morrison_Surviving_2012_and_Other_Cosmic_Disasters

He also likes us! Here's his quote from the video:

There are other good websites, this is a recent one, it is actually probably the best, 2012 hoax, because it's all indexed, and you can go down under each person, idea, and click on it and get a one page description of what's going on, done by a bunch of astronomers.