RICEVILLE — Michael J. Gaffey, 80, a Riceville native who became an internationally recognized planetary scientist, NASA mission participant and one of the world’s leading authorities on asteroids, died Sunday, September 20, 2026.
A private family service will be held. The public is invited to join Michael’s family at Goosey’s at 11 a.m. Thursday, September 24. His final resting place will be Calvary Cemetery in Elma.
Michael’s life carried him an extraordinary distance — from a one-room Iowa schoolhouse to work that helped scientists better understand objects moving through the solar system.
Born December 1, 1945, Michael attended a one-room school from kindergarten through eighth grade before going on to Riceville High School, where he graduated in 1964.
His interest in science eventually took him to the University of Iowa, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology, and then to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a doctorate in planetary science.
Michael went on to work as a researcher at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy and later at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics.
From 1984 until 2001, he taught in the geology department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.
Another chapter began in 2001, when Michael joined the University of North Dakota as a professor of Space Studies in Grand Forks. There, he taught courses ranging from introductory space studies to classes devoted to Mars while continuing research that gained international recognition.
His specialty was asteroids and meteorites, and his research became an important tool for scientists seeking to determine what asteroids are made of by studying the light reflected from their surfaces.
His work earned some of the highest recognition available in planetary science.
In 2006, Michael received both the Leonard Medal from the Meteoritical Society and the G.K. Gilbert Award from the Geological Society of America’s Planetary Geology Division, honors recognizing his lasting contributions to the field.
There is even a piece of the solar system carrying his name.
Asteroid 3545 Gaffey was named in his honor.
Michael also participated as a scientist in NASA’s Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous, commonly known as NEAR, and Dawn spacecraft missions. Those missions expanded scientists’ understanding of asteroids and other bodies that preserve clues about the earliest days of the solar system.
He later held the title of Professor Emeritus at the University of North Dakota.
For a boy whose education began in a one-room schoolhouse, Michael’s career ultimately reached about as far from home as anyone could imagine. Yet Riceville remained part of the story of a Northern Iowa native whose curiosity about rocks eventually helped scientists better understand entire worlds.
Hindt Funeral Home is assisting Michael’s family with arrangements. To read Michael’s full obituary and leave condolences for his family, please click here.
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