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Articles

Holiday Gift Books 2020: Science.” (Book review) Wall Street Journal (Nov 21, 2020), C10.

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Celestial Divination.” (Book review) Wall Street Journal (June 18, 2020).

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When the Moon was a Mystery.” (Book review) Wall Street Journal (July 20, 2019), C9.

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A Genius in Eclipse.” (Book review) Wall Street Journal (June 22, 2019), C9.

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The Most Important Books on Astronomy. The Reading Lists (April 2019).

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Science and Authority.” (Book review) Wall Street Journal (April 6, 2019), C7-8.

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Feeling Gravity’s Pull.” (Book review) Wall Street Journal (Nov 17, 2018), C10.

 

Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine’ Review: A Longing for Truth and Meaning.” (Book review) Wall Street Journal (Apr 7, 2018), C7.

 

A New Astron0my Through 'The Telescope in the Ice.'” (Book review) Wall Street Journal (Dec 16, 2017), C14.

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The Greatest Show on Earth.” (Book review) Wall Street Journal (Aug 12, 2017), C7.

 

All the Light We Cannot See.” (Book review) Wall Street Journal (Aug 5, 2017), C7.

 

Picturing Physics.” (Book review) Wall Street Journal (Apr 15, 2017), C6.

 

Williamina Fleming, Astronomer: Brief Life of a Spectroscopic Pioneer – 1857-1911.” Harvard Magazine 119 (Jan-Feb 2017), 48-49.

 

“The Power of Totality.” (Letter to the Editor) Sky and Telescope, 132 (Dec 2016), 6.

 

The Great American Eclipse.” (Book review) Wall Street Journal (Oct 1, 2016), C6.

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The Nebula War: A Clash Between Two Pioneer Sky Photographers.” (Cover article) Sky and Telescope, 131 (June 2016), 36-40.

 

Hitching a Ride on a Light Beam.” (Featured book review) Wall Street Journal (April 22, 2016), C5-C6.

 

A Likely Story.” (Book review) Wall Street Journal (Dec 26, 2015), C8.

 

"William Cranch Bond: Life of Harvard's First Astronomer." Harvard Magazine (Sep-Oct 2015), 46-47.

 

"Reading History in the Heavens." Sky and Telescope 130 (July 2015), 86.

 

"Sparking a Love of Science." Wall Street Journal (June 13, 2015), C5-C6.

 

"Harvard: Hub of the Universe." (The founding of Harvard College Observatory) Presentation at Harvard Center for Astrophysics, Nov 20, 2014. Click here for YouTube video of  the presentation.  

 

"10 astronomers you’ve (probably) never heard of." BBC History Magazine, August 2014.

 

The Limit of Reason.” (Book review: Infinitesimal, Amir Alexander) Wall Street Journal (May 3, 2014), C9.

 

 “Unravelling Starlight: William and Margaret Huggins and the Rise of the New Astronomy.” (Book review) Science and Education 22 (2013), 1281-1285.

 

 The Eternal Pursuit.” (Book review: A Little History of Science, William Bynum) Wall Street Journal (December 8, 2012), C7.

 

How Curiosity Killed Schrödinger’s Cat.” (Book review: From Here to Infinity, Martin Rees; Ignorance, Stuart Firestein) Wall Street Journal (June 30, 2012), C9.

 

 “The Loneliest Planet.” (Book review: Alone in the Universe: Why Our Planet is Unique, John Gribbin) Wall Street Journal (December 31, 2011), C5.

 

Counting on Progress.” (Book review: The Man of Numbers, Keith Devlin) Wall Street Journal (July 7, 2011), A13.

 

An Engine of Perpetual Revolution.” (Book review: The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World, Edward Dolnick; The Philosophical Breakfast Club: Four Remarkable Friends Who Transformed Science and Changed the World, Laura J. Snyder) Wall Street Journal (Feb 26-27, 2011).

 

All Hail the Hypotenuse.” (Book review: Hidden Harmonies: The Lives and Times of the Pythagorean Theorem, Robert and Ellen Kaplan) Wall Street Journal (Jan 8-9, 2011), C10.

 

The Original Naked Scientist — Archimedes.” The Naked Scientists website (Fall 2010).

 

“Galileo Measures a Mountain – on the Moon!” The Classroom Astronomer (Fall 2010).

 

“The Universe of Archimedes.” Sky and Telescope, 120 (Nov 2010), 32-35.

 

“The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom.” (Book review) American Journal of Physics, 78 (Apr 2010), 445-446.

 

“The Parchment Brothers.” Lost online magazine: www.lostmag.com (Oct 2009).

 

“The Turbulent Lens (history of optical glassmaking).” Lost online magazine (Dec 2006).

 

 “Science vs. Spiritualism.” BBC History Magazine, 7 (Mar 2006), 20-21.

 

“The Universe in the Mirror,” Sky and Telescope, 109 (Feb 2005), 44-50.

 

“How Wonderfully We Stand Upon This World,” Science & Spirit, 15 (Nov-Dec 2004), 52-57.

 

“Starlight Detectives: The Birth of Celestial Spectroscopy,” Sky & Telescope, 108 (Aug 2004), 44-49.

 

“The Triangles of Aristarchus,” The Mathematics Teacher, 97 (Apr 2004), 228-231.

 

“Picturing the Heavens: The Rise of Celestial Photography in the 19th Century,” Sky & Telescope, 107 (Apr 2004), 36-42.

 

“Revealing the Universe.” (Book review) Isis, 93 (Sep 2002), 523.

 

“Wobbling the Cosmos,” BBC History Magazine, 3 (Apr 2002), 30-34.

 

“The Race to Measure the Cosmos” (Cover article), Sky & Telescope, 102 (Nov 2001), 38-45.

 

“The Absolute Magnitudes of Stars,” Sky & Telescope, 88 (1994), 35-36.

 

“Out of the Cradle: Exploring the Frontier Beyond Earth.” (Book Review) American Scientist, 76 (1986), 197.

 

“Laboratory Exercises in Astronomy: How Far is the Galactic Center?” Sky & Telescope, 68 (1984), 518-522.

 

“Astronomy for the Inquiring Mind.” (Book review) American Scientist, 72 (1984), 78.

 

“Webb Society Deep-Sky Observer's Handbook, Vol. 5: Clusters of Galaxies.” (Book review) American Scientist, 71 (1983), 532.

 

“The Practical Astronomer.” (Book review) American Scientist, 70 (1982), 213.

 

“Inside Dwarf Galaxies,” Sky & Telescope, 59 (1980), 287-90.

 

“The Stellar Content of Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies,” Astrophysical Journal, 241 (1980), 111-115.

 

“Measurements of Abundances and Ages of Old Disk Clusters,” with R. D. McClure and B. A. Twarog, in The HR Diagram, A. G. D. Philip and D. S. Hayes, editors. Dordrecht, Holland: Reidel, 163; presented at the 80th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, Washington, D.C. (1977).

 

“Weighing the Galaxies -- An Impossible Task?” Yale Scientific Magazine, 51 (1976), 3-6.

 

“On the Nature of the Bright Variables in Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies,” with P. Demarque, Astrophysical Journal, 202 (1975), 346-350.

 

“Column Densities of Interstellar Molecular Hydrogen,” with L. Spitzer and W. Cochran, Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, No. 266 (1974).

 

“The Leviathan of Parsonstown – An Amateur Astronomer's Dream,” Griffith Observer, 38 (1974), 2-5.

 

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