Curtis, born in 1942, found engagement in science projects, earning honorable mentions in two Southern California Science Fairs. In college, the troubled '60's caused him to shift from science to liberal arts (BA Philosophy, 1969, UC Berkeley). Afterwards, philosophy “bloomed” into a pursuit of cosmology. Manning earned his Doctorate in astrophysics (UC Berkeley, 2002). His 3-part dissertation was published in the Astrophysical Journal (2002, 574, 599; 2003a, 591, 79; 2003b, 595, 19). Now, at NASA-Ames Research Center, he builds numerical models of the evolution of the Martian atmosphere (Icarus, e.g., 2006, 180, 38; 2019, 317, 509). Curtis still likes science projects.