Dr. Benjamin K. Malphrus, executive director of the Space Science Center and professor of space science at Morehead State University, and MSU alumna Dr.
Credit Morehead State University
Dr. Benjamin K. Malphrus, executive director of the Space Science Center and professor of space science at Morehead State University, will be inducted into the Kentucky Aviation Hall of Fame.
Malphrus was instrumental in developing the space systems engineering and astrophysics programs at Morehead State and the construction of MSU’s Space Science Center.
Malphrus has served on the National Radio Astronomy Observatory scientific staff, as a visiting scientist at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility and on the faculty of universities including the University of South Carolina and West Virginia University.
In the late 1990s, Malphrus developed a theory of galaxy formation that has gained wide acceptance among the astronomical community and led to the discovery of a previously unknown galaxy, identified as NGC 5291-B, the first known galaxy proved to result from galaxy-galaxy interactions. He contributes to the body of research in interacting galaxie