Born and raised in Oklahoma City, Benton C. Clark III developed an early interest in science. At Classen High School he thrived in those studies, while his brother prepared to lead the family jewelry business. At the University of Oklahoma, Clark majored in physics and earned summer internships at Los Alamos and IBM. With a Master of Science from University of California, Berkeley, he served three years in the United States Air Force, designing instruments for space exploration while interacting with astronauts. His pioneering experiment flew on Gemini missions.

With a subsequent doctorate in biophysics from Columbia University, he joined Avco in Tulsa. Then, with Martin aerospace in Denver, his proposed instrument was selected for NASA’s upcoming lander mission to Mars as part of the Viking program. For the first time in history, scientists learned what Mars was made of.

During five decades with Lockheed Martin, Clark rose to chief scientist and director for concepts for deep space exploration. Working with prominent scientists and his team of broad-based engineers to develop designs for innovative new missions for NASA resulted in spacecraft flown to the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter. His group also developed missions that achieved the first-ever robotic returns of samples from a comet, the solar wind, and asteroid Bennu. National and international recognition of Clark includes the Nova, Masursky, Wright Brothers, and Stellar awards. As an octogenarian scientist, he continues to participate in NASA’s Mars rover missions through the Space Science Institute and co-authors books on Astrobiology.