A University of Hawaii scientist known for groundbreaking work on meteorites is due to be honored at a conference on Kauai next week. 

Klaus Keil is known for pioneering quantitative studies of minerals in meteorites and making important contributions to the understanding of the nature, origin, and evolution of the bodies meteorites came from. 

An asteroid and a mineral are named after him — the asteroid is called 5054 Keil and the mineral is keilite.

The conference next Tuesday is being co-hosted by the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, the NASA Astrobiology Institute, and the Institute for Astronomy. 

Keil will be celebrating his 77th birthday soon after the workshop and will retire next summer from the University of Hawaii.