Harrison "Jack" Schmitt (born 1935), a geologist, was the first professional scientist to walk on the moon. In December 1972, he and Gene Cernan spent three days on the moon's surface, logging a record 301 hours on the surface and collecting a record 249 pounds of lunar material.

America's First Scientist-Astronaut

Born in Santa Rita, New Mexico, on July 3, 1935, Jack Schmitt received a bachelor's degree in science from the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) in 1957. He then traveled to Oslo, Norway, on a Fulbright Scholarship. He studied at the University of Oslo in 1957 and 1958 and worked with the Norwegian Geological Survey. Schmitt received his Ph.D. in geology from Harvard University in 1964.

After finishing his studies, Schmitt worked for the United States Geological Survey in New Mexico and Montana. He spent two summers in Alaska doing fieldwork. After that, he worked on photo and telescopic surveys of the moon for the...