Robert Phillip Sharp was an expert on the geological surfaces of the Earth and the planet Mars. He was born on June 24, 1911 in Oxnard, California, United States. Sharp served as the chairman of the Division of Geological Sciences at California Institute of Technology from 1952 to 1968. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees there and went to Harvard for a doctorate in geology. Robert Sharp was a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences and received the National Medal of Science from President George H. W. Bush in 1989. Professor Sharp won the Penrose Medal from the Geological Society of America, its highest honor. Sharp was honored by Caltech as the first named professorship in geology the Robert Phillip Sharp Chair in Geology.