Phil Plait Explained

Phil Plait
Other Names:Bad Astronomer
Birth Name:Phillip Cary Plait
Birth Date:30 September 1964
Birth Place:Washington, D.C., U.S.
Nationality:American
Fields:Physics, astronomy, science communication
Alma Mater:University of Michigan
University of Virginia
Thesis Title:Hubble space telescope observations of the circumstellar ring around of supernova 1987A
Thesis Url:https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32285879
Thesis Year:1995
Website:Bad Astronomy Newsletter (earlier posts archived on SyFy and on Slate)

Philip Cary Plait (born September 30, 1964),[1] also known as The Bad Astronomer, is an American astronomer, skeptic, and popular science blogger. Plait has worked as part of the Hubble Space Telescope team, images and spectra of astronomical objects, as well as engaging in public outreach advocacy for NASA missions. He has written three books, Bad Astronomy, Death from the Skies, and Under Alien Skies. He has also appeared in several science documentaries, including How the Universe Works on the Discovery Channel. From August 2008 through 2009, he served as president of the James Randi Educational Foundation.[2] [3] Additionally, he wrote and hosted episodes of Crash Course Astronomy,[4] which aired its last episode in 2016.

Early life

Plait grew up in the Washington, D.C. area. He has said he became interested in astronomy when his father brought home a telescope when Plait was 5 years old or so. According to Plait, he "aimed it at Saturn that night. One look, and that was it. I was hooked."[5]

Education and research

Plait attended the University of Michigan and received his PhD in astronomy at the University of Virginia in 1995 with a thesis on supernova SN 1987A, which he studied with the Supernova Intensive Study (SINS).[6]

During the 1990s, Plait worked with the COBE satellite and later was part of the Hubble Space Telescope team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, working largely on the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. In 1995, he published observations of a ring of circumstellar material around SN 1987A, which led to further study of explosion mechanisms in core-collapse supernovae.[7] [8] Plait's work with Grady, et al. resulted in the presentation of high-resolution images of isolated stellar objects (including AB Aurigae[9] and HD 163296[10]) from the Hubble Space Telescope, among the first of those recorded. These results have been used in further studies into the properties and structure of dim, young, moderate-size stars, called Herbig Ae/Be stars,[11] which also confirmed results observed by Grady, et al.[12]

Public outreach

After his research contributions, Plait concentrated on educational outreach.[13] He went on to perform web-based public outreach for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and other NASA-funded missions while at Sonoma State University from 2000 to 2007.[14] In 2001, he coauthored a paper on increasing accessibility of astronomy education resources and programs.[15]

A large proportion of his public outreach occurs online. He established the badastronomy website in 1998 and the corresponding blog in 2005. The website remains archived[16] but is no longer actively maintained, while the blog has continued, through several changes of platform, to the present day.

His first book, Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax" deals with much the same subject matter as his website. His second book, Death from the Skies, describes ways astronomical events could wipe out life on Earth and was released in October 2008.[17]

Plait's work has also appeared in the Encyclopædia Britannica Yearbook of Science and the Future and Astronomy magazine. He is also a frequent guest on the SETI Institute's weekly science radio show Big Picture Science.

Plait has contributed to a number of television and cinema productions, either onscreen as host or guest or in an advisory role offscreen. He hosted the three-part documentary series Phil Plait's "Bad Universe" on the Discovery Channel,[18] which first aired in the United States on August 29, 2010 but was not picked up as a series. He has appeared in numerous science documentaries and programs including How the Universe Works. Plait was a science advisor for the 2016 film Arrival[19] and the 2017 CBS TV series Salvation.[20] He was the head science writer of the 2017 show Bill Nye Saves the World on Netflix.[21]

Scientific skeptical advocacy

From 2008 to 2009, Plait served as the president of the James Randi Educational Foundation, which promotes scientific skepticism, a position he eventually stepped down from in order to focus on the "Bad Universe" television project. He has also been a regular speaker at widely attended science and skepticism events and conferences, such as The Amazing Meeting (TAM),[22] Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism (NECSS),[23] and DragonCon.[24] Plait writes and speaks on topics related to scientific skepticism, such as advocating in favor of widespread immunization.[25]

Personal life

Plait used to live in Boulder, Colorado with his wife, Marcella Setter, and daughter. In a 2009 interview, Plait stated that his daughter is interested in astronomy and science, as well as anime and manga.[26] Setter and Plait run Science Getaways, a vacation company that provides science-based adventures.[27] As of January, 2024, he lives in rural Virginia outside of Charlottesville.[28]

Internet presence

Badastronomy.com

Plait began publishing explanatory Internet postings on science in 1993.[29] [30] Five years later, Plait established Badastronomy.com with the goal of clearing up what he perceived to be widespread public misconceptions about astronomy and space science in movies, the news, print, and on the Internet, also providing critical analysis of several pseudoscientific theories related to space and astronomy, such as the "Planet X" cataclysm, Richard Hoagland's theories, and the Moon landing "hoax".[31] It received a considerable amount of traffic after Plait criticized a Fox Network special accusing NASA of faking the Apollo missions.[32] Astronomer Michelle Thaller has described Badastronomy.com, as well as Plait's book and essays called Bad Astronomy, as "a monumental service to the space-science community".[33]

Blog

In 2005, Plait started the Bad Astronomy blog. In July 2008, it moved to a new host, Discover Magazine. While it is primarily an astronomy blog, Plait also posts about skepticism, pseudoscience, and antiscience topics, with occasional personal and political posts. On November 12, 2012, the Bad Astronomy blog moved to Slate magazine.[34] Plait told Richard Saunders in an interview that "they [Slate] are very supportive... a new community." Revisiting old posts, Plait stated, "I've written about everything, when you've written 7,000 blog posts you've pretty much written about every topic in astronomy."[35]

On February 1, 2017 the Bad Astronomy blog moved to SyfyWire[36] where it was hosted until October 2022 [37] His blog is currently (2023) hosted by Substack.

Online video

In September 2011, Plait spoke at a TED (conference) in Boulder, his hometown. His conference explained how to defend Earth from asteroids.[38]

Plait taught Astronomy on the YouTube educational series Crash Course for 47 episodes, from January 15, 2015[4] to February 12, 2016.

Books

Articles

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Plait, Philip Cary (born 1964-09-30) . . January 10, 2014 . October 24, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141024225941/http://isni-url.oclc.nl/isni/0000000115990375 . live .
  2. Web site: Plait . Phil . Randi's big shoes to Phil . Bad Astronomy . blog . . August 4, 2008 . January 29, 2014 . May 19, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110519193749/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/08/04/randis-big-shoes-to-phil/ . dead .
  3. James Randi Educational Foundation Names New President . . December 7, 2009 . January 29, 2014.
  4. News: Vlogbrothers Bring "Crash Course" Videos to PBS Digital Studios . Re/code . Dawn . Chmielewski . November 6, 2014 . November 8, 2014 . March 3, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205230/http://recode.net/2014/11/06/vlogbrothers-bring-crash-course-videos-to-pbs-digital-studios/ . live .
  5. Web site: Phil Plait . Samara Lectures . January 26, 2014 . January 11, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190111034851/http://www.samaralectures.com/speakers/phil-plait/ . live .
  6. Spatially Resolved STIS Spectroscopy of SN 1987A: Evidence for Shock Interaction with Circumstellar Gas . . G. . Sonneborn . C. S. J. . Pun . R. A. . Kimble . T. R. . Gull . P. . Lundqvist . R. . McCray . P. . Plait . A. . Boggess . C. W. . Bowers . A. C. . Danks . J. . Grady . S. R. . Heap . S. . Kraemer . D. . Lindler . J. . Loiacono . S. P. . Maran . H. W. . Moos . B. E. . Woodgate . 29997086 . 5 . 492 . 2 . L139–L142 . January 1998 . astro-ph/9710373 . 1998ApJ...492L.139S . 10.1086/311106.
  7. HST observations of the ring around SN 1987A . . Philip C. . Plait . Peter . Lundqvist . Roger A. . Chevalier . Robert P. . Kirshner . 439 . 730–751 . February 1995 . 1995ApJ...439..730P . 10.1086/175213. free .
  8. Explosion mechanism, neutrino burst and gravitational wave in core-collapse supernovae . . Kei . Kotake . Katsuhiko . Sato . Keitaro . Takahashi . 119103628 . 69 . 4 . 971–1143 . April 2006 . astro-ph/0509456 . 2006RPPh...69..971K . 10.1088/0034-4885/69/4/R03.
  9. Hubble Space Telescope Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Coronagraphic Imaging of the Herbig Ae Star AB Aurigae . . C. A. . Grady . B. . Woodgate . F. C. . Bruhweiler . A. . Boggess . Philip . Plait . Don J. . Lindler . M. . Clampin . P. . Kalas . 5 . 523 . 2 . L151–L154 . October 1999 . 10.1086/312270 . 1999ApJ...523L.151G. free .
  10. STIS coronagraphic imaging of the Herbig AE Star: HD 163296 . The Astrophysical Journal . C. A. . Grady . David . Devine . B. . Woodgate . R. . Kimble . F. C. . Bruhweiler . A. . Boggess . J. L. . Kinsky . Philip . Plait . M. . Clampin . P. . Kalas . 5 . 544 . 2 . 895–902 . December 2000 . 2000ApJ...544..895G . 10.1086/317222. free .
  11. Spatially Resolved Circumstellar Structure of Herbig Ae/Be Stars in the Near-Infrared . The Astrophysical Journal . Rafael . Millan-Gabet . F. Peter . Schloerb . Wesley A. . Traub . 14468101 . 546 . 1 . 358–381 . January 2001 . astro-ph/0008072 . 2001ApJ...546..358M . 10.1086/318239.
  12. A reconsideration of disk properties in Herbig Ae stars . . A. . Natta . T. . Prusti . R. . Neri . D. . Wooden . V. P. . Grinin . V. . Mannings . 5 . 371 . 1 . 186–197 . May 2001 . 2001A&A...371..186N . 10.1051/0004-6361:20010334. free .
  13. Web site: Dr. Philip Plait: Biography . Bad Astronomy . December 25, 2013 . September 19, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180919130718/http://www.badastronomy.com/pr/bio.html . live .
  14. Web site: Phil Plait . . https://web.archive.org/web/20140116140048/http://epo.sonoma.edu/group/plait.html . January 16, 2014 . dead . mdy-all .
  15. Space Mysteries: Making Science and Astronomy Learning Fun . American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2001. December 10–14, 2001. San Francisco, California. . P. . Plait . G. . Tim . L. . Cominsky . Abstract #ED32A-02 . December 2001 . 2001AGUFMED32A..02P.
  16. Web site: Phil . Plait . Bad Astronomy . 2008 . November 27, 2019 . November 20, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191120002159/http://www.badastronomy.com/index.html . live .
  17. Web site: Big Announcement Part 1: My next book! . BadAstronomy.com . April 8, 2007 . May 17, 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070505163921/http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/04/08/big-announcement-part-1-my-next-book/ . May 5, 2007 . dead .
  18. Web site: My Sooper Sekrit Project: REVEALED! . Bad Astronomy . . July 23, 2010 . September 17, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110917001256/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/07/23/my-sooper-sekrit-project-revealed/ . dead .
  19. Web site: Plait. Phil. Arrival - A not really Bad Astronomy review. Syfy.com. 14 April 2018. en. 15 February 2017. April 15, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180415130230/http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/arrival-not-really-bad-astronomy-review. live.
  20. Web site: Howell. Elizabeth. How Realistic Is the Science in the CBS Show Salvation?. Space.com. July 19, 2017 . 1 August 2017. December 2, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171202160944/https://www.space.com/37532-science-of-cbs-salvation-asteroid-tv.html. live.
  21. Web site: Plait. Phil. Bill Nye Saves the World!. April 21, 2017 . 17 December 2017. December 22, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171222052255/http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/bill-nye-saves-world. live.
  22. Web site: Phil Plait at TAM 8: Don't be a Dick . . YouTube.com . February 17, 2012 . January 11, 2014 . May 28, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140528174758/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrFRbGjUtJk . live .
  23. Web site: Phil Plait – The Final Epsilon . NECSS . YouTube.com . November 27, 2013 . January 11, 2014 . September 19, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180919130727/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn4G1jt5LCY . live .
  24. Web site: Phil Plait . . January 11, 2014 . January 14, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140114184716/http://www.dragoncon.org/?q=guest_details_page/1477 . live .
  25. Web site: Why I'm pro-vax . Discover Magazine . Plait . Phil . October 8, 2009 . January 11, 2014 . January 15, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140115100113/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/10/08/why-im-pro-vax/ . live .
  26. Phil Plait: Bad Astronomer and Champion for Science . Wired . Jenny . Williams . January 14, 2013 . January 30, 2015.
  27. Web site: About Science Getaways . Science Getaways . December 25, 2013 . January 10, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140110202758/http://sciencegetaways.com/about-science-getaways/ . live .
  28. Web site: Plait . Phil . About . Bad Astronomy Newsletter . March 18, 2018 . January 2, 2024.
  29. Web site: Plait. Phil. Fifteen years. Slate. The Slate Group. 21 March 2008. 21 December 2016. November 7, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171107032313/http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2008/03/21/fifteen_years.html. live.
  30. Web site: Point of Inquiry: Phil Plait — The Bad Astronomer. Point of Inquiry. Center for Inquiry. 15 December 2016. MP3 Podcast. 12 April 2007. November 7, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171107032754/http://www.pointofinquiry.org/phil_plait_the_bad_astronomer/. live.
  31. Web site: Moon Hoax Spurs Crusade Against Bad Astronomy . . Reuters . January 11, 2001 . January 30, 2015 . January 30, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150130223237/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/11/science/11WIRE-SPACE.html . live .
  32. Web site: Astronomer works for heavens' sake / Rohnert Park man corrects misconceptions . . Jim . Doyle . March 29, 2002 . January 30, 2015 . A lot of folks logged on to www.badastronomy.com a year ago when Plait skewered a Fox-TV documentary that accused NASA of faking its Apollo missions and lunar landings during the 1960s and 1970s. . February 3, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150203080904/http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Profile-Phil-Plait-Astronomer-works-for-2858943.php . live .
  33. Web site: The Bad Astronomer . . Michelle . Thaller . January 28, 2004 . January 30, 2015 . January 30, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150130222930/http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0128/p25s01-stss.html . live .
  34. Web site: Big news: Bad Astronomy is moving to Slate magazine . Bad Astronomy . Discover Magazine . November 2, 2012 . November 11, 2012 . November 4, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121104234939/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/11/02/big-news-bad-astronomy-is-moving-to-slate-magazine/ . live .
  35. Web site: 24.Nov.2012 . The Skeptic Zone . September 15, 2013 . September 21, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130921055411/http://skepticzone.libsyn.com/the-skeptic-zone-214-24-nov-2012 . live .
  36. Web site: Syfy Wire Welcomes Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy. SyfyWire. January 31, 2017. Swiderski. Adam. September 1, 2017. September 2, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170902100728/http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/syfy-wire-welcomes-phil-plaits-bad-astronomy. live.
  37. Web site: 2022-09-30 . All Good Things… . 2022-11-06 . SYFY Official Site . en-US . November 6, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221106130504/https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/bad-astronomy-phil-plaits-final-article-for-syfy-wire . live .
  38. Phil . Plait . How to defend Earth from asteroids . . September 2011 . November 27, 2019.
  39. 'Under Alien Skies' Will Fuel the Next Generation of Sci-Fi . WIRED . April 21, 2023 . April 23, 2023.
  40. Web site: Best Science Blog – The 2007 Weblog Awards . Weblog Awards . November 1, 2007 . December 25, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131206121825/http://2007.weblogawards.org/polls/best-science-blog-1.php . December 6, 2013 . usurped .
  41. Web site: Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, and (165347) Philplait . Blue Collar Scientist . Jeff . Medkeff . Jeffrey S. Medkeff. March 25, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080605155904/http://bluecollarscientist.com/2008/03/25/phil-plait-the-bad-astronomer-and-165347-philplait/ . June 5, 2008.
  42. Web site: 165347 Philplait (2000 WG11) . . March 26, 2008.
  43. 25 Best Blogs 2009: Bad Astronomer . . Tom . McNichol . February 13, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130826164744/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1879276_1879279_1879074,00.html . August 26, 2013 . live.
  44. Web site: Shadow of a Doubt . NCAS.org . October 7, 2013 . December 24, 2013 . December 26, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131226005328/http://www.ncas.org/2013/10/shadow-of-doubt-october-2013.html . live .
  45. Web site: Winners of the David N. Schramm Award . High Energy Astrophysics Division, American Astronomical Society (HEAD/AAS) . 2016-01-30 . January 19, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160119221844/http://head.aas.org/schramm/pastwinners.html . live .
  46. Web site: A Supermassive Black Hole's Fiery and Furious Wind . Plait . Phil . Slate . February 25, 2015 . January 30, 2016 . January 31, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160131061734/http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2015/02/25/black_hole_wind_how_a_black_hole_shapes_a_galaxy.html . live .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Phil Plait".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.