Editing Thomas Gold (section)

===Moon dust and NASA===
[[File:Buzz Aldrin's bootprint on the Moon, AS11-40-5877 (21472308758).jpg|left|thumb|Bootprint of Lunar Module Pilot [[Buzz Aldrin]] on the surface of the Moon. Aldrin photographed this bootprint on July 20, 1969, as part of investigations into the soil mechanics of the lunar surface.]]
From the 1950s, Gold served as a consultant to [[NASA]] and held positions on several national space committees, including the [[President's Science Advisory Committee]], as the [[United States]] tried to develop its space program. At the time, scientists were engaged in a heated debate over the physical properties of the Moon's surface. In 1955, he predicted that the Moon was covered by a layer of fine rock powder stemming from "the ceaseless bombardment of its surface by Solar System debris".<ref name="Bondi"/> This led to the dust being jokingly referred to as "Gold dust"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Levy |first1=David H. |title=Shoemaker by Levy: The Man Who Made an Impact |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691002255 |page=[https://archive.org/details/shoemakerbylevym00levy/page/106 106] |year=2000 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/shoemakerbylevym00levy/page/106 }}</ref> or "Gold's dust".<ref name="WashingtonPost">{{Harvnb|Bernstein|2004}}.</ref> Gold initially suggested that astronauts would sink into the dust, but upon later analysis of impact craters and electrostatic fields, he determined that the astronauts' boots would sink only three centimeters into the Moon's surface. In any case, NASA sent unmanned [[Surveyor Program|Surveyors]] to analyze the conditions on the surface of the Moon. Gold was ridiculed by fellow scientists, not only for his hypothesis, but for the approach he took in communicating NASA's concerns to the American public; in particular, some experts were infuriated with his usage of the term "Moon dust" in reference to lunar [[regolith]].<ref name="Burbidge8">{{Harvnb|Burbidge|Burbidge|2006|p=8}}.</ref> When the [[Apollo 11]] crew landed on the Moon in 1969 and brought back the first samples of [[lunar rock]]s, researchers found that lunar soil was in fact powdery. Gold said the findings were consistent with his hypothesis, noting that "in one area as they walked along, they sank in between five and eight inches". However, Gold received little credit for his correct prediction, and was even criticized for his original prediction of a deep layer of lunar dust.<ref name="Bondi"/> Gold had also contributed to the Apollo program by designing the Apollo Lunar Surface Closeup Camera (ALSCC) (a kind of [[stereo camera]]) used on the Apollo 11, 12, and 14 missions.<ref name="Bondi"/><ref>[http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/catalog/alscc/ Apollo Lunar Surface Closeup Camera (ALSCC) Image Catalog], Apollo Image Atlas, Lunar and Planetary Institute</ref>

In the 1970s and 1980s, Gold was a vocal critic of NASA's [[Space Shuttle]] program, deriding claims that the agency could fly 50 missions a year or that it could have low budget costs. NASA officials warned Gold that if he testified his concerns before Congress, his research proposals would lose their support from NASA. Gold ignored the warning and testified before a Congressional committee headed by Senator [[Walter Mondale]]. In a letter to NASA administrator [[James C. Fletcher]], [[George Low]] wrote that "Gold should realize that being funded by the Government and NASA is a privilege, and that it would make little sense for us to fund him as long as his views are what they are now".<ref name="Burbidge9">{{Harvnb|Burbidge|Burbidge|2006|p=9}}.</ref> Gold recalled the aftermath of his testimony in a 1983 interview with astronomy historian [[David H. DeVorkin]]:
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I had a very hard time with NASA, year after year. I got some more money, but eventually it fizzled out, after three years or so after this event. My applications, which previously each year had always gone through very smoothly, were turned down. I would then have to go to Washington, discuss it with them. and I then would get a certain fraction of it resurrected. For several years running this happened, and then eventually it fizzled permanently, and I've not tried to get any money out of NASA since.<br>
...
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I was certainly regarded as persona non grata with NASA after that. I had a very hard time. Shortly after that [[Noel Hinners]] became the Space Science administrator, and he used to joke about it and say, "Oh. Tommy's got to come to his annual pilgrimage to Washington," and regarded it as very funny, but then he'd always give me some money. But always clearly as a persona non grata.<ref>{{citation|title=Oral History Transcript – Thomas Gold|url=http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/28197.html|access-date=June 19, 2009|publisher=[[American Institute of Physics]] [[Niels Bohr]] Library & Archives|archive-date=September 6, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906092847/http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/28197.html|url-status=dead}}.</ref>
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