Giuseppe "Bepi" Colombo (2 October 1920 in Padua – 20 February 1984 in Padua) was an Italian scientist, mathematician and engineer at the University of Padua, Italy.

Mercury

Colombo studied the planet Mercury, and it was his calculations which showed how to get a spacecraft into a solar orbit which would encounter Mercury multiple times, using a gravity assist manoeuvre with Venus. Due to this idea, NASA was able to have the Mariner 10 accomplish three fly-bys of Mercury instead of one. Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft to use gravity assist. Since then, the technique has become common. Colombo also explained the spin-orbit resonance in Mercury's orbit, showing that it rotates three times for every two orbits around the Sun.

Saturn's rings

Colombo also made significant contributions to the study of Saturn's rings, mostly using ground-based observations in the era before space exploration reached the outer Solar System.

Other contributions

Legacy

Several astronomical objects and spaceships are named after to honour him: