Phil Plait

Philip Cary Plait (born September 30, 1964),[1] also known as The Bad Astronomer, is an American astronomer, skeptic, writer 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 two books, Bad Astronomy and Death from the 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.

Phil Plait
Phil Plait at The Amazing Meeting on January 20, 2007
Born
Phillip Cary Plait

(1964-09-30) September 30, 1964
Washington, D.C.
NationalityAmerican
Other namesBad Astronomer
Alma materUniversity of Michigan
University of Virginia
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics, astronomy, science communication
ThesisHubble space telescope observations of the circumstellar ring around of supernova 1987A (1995)
WebsiteBad Astronomy blog (earlier blog posts archived on Slate)

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 movie 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
Phil Plait (center) during TAM9 in 2011, with Richard Wiseman and Joe Nickell

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 currently resides in Boulder, Colorado with his wife, Marcella Setter, and daughter.[13] 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]

Internet presence

Badastronomy.com
Not to be confused with the book Bad Astronomy, also by Plait.
The final slide to Plait's presentation at the JREF's 6th The Amazing Meeting convention

Plait began publishing explanatory Internet postings on science in 1993.[28][29]:3:10 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".[30] It received a considerable amount of traffic after Plait criticized a Fox Network special accusing NASA of faking the Apollo missions.[31] 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".[32]

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, antiscience topics, with occasional personal and political posts. On November 12, 2012, the Bad Astronomy blog moved to Slate magazine.[33] 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."[34]

On February 1, 2017 the Bad Astronomy blog moved to SyfyWire.[35]

Online video

In September 2011, Plait spoke at a TED (conference) in Boulder, his hometown. His conference explained how to defend Earth from asteroids.[36]

In November 2014 it was announced that Plait would be joining the YouTube educational series Crash Course to teach a forthcoming Astronomy unit. The first episode was uploaded on January 15, 2015.[4] After 47 episodes, the series came to its end on February 12, 2016.

Books
  • Plait, Philip; Weinersmith, Zach (2013). 27 Nerd Disses: A Significant Quantity of Disrespect. ASIN B00GI25TSC.
  • Plait, Philip (2008). Death from the Skies!: These are the Ways the World Will End. Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-670-01997-7.
  • Plait, Philip (2002). Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax". John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-40976-6.

Media appearances
Year Program Episode(s) Notes
2017 How the World Ends Episodes "Planet X"/"Aliens Invade" Tv series documentary
2015 Crash Course: Astronomy Episodes #1-47 Short form YouTube series
2012 Curiosity Episode #2.12 – "Sun Storms" TV series documentary
2012 The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson Episode #8.184 TV series
2010–19 How the Universe Works "Black Holes"
"Stars"
"Planets"
"Solar Systems"
"all episodes in seasons 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6"		 TV series documentary
2011 Captain Disillusion: Fame Curve Collection Video short
2010 Bad Universe "Death Stars"
"Alien Attack!"
"Asteroid Apocalypse"		 TV series documentary
Known Universe "Stellar Storms"
"Cosmic Collisions"		 TV series documentary
2008 Naked Science "Hubble's Amazing Universe" TV series documentary
2007 Is It Real? "Life on Mars" TV series documentary
The Zula Patrol "Larva or Leave Me/Egg Hunt"
"There Goes the Neighborhood"		 TV series
2006 Nova "Monster of the Milky Way" TV series documentary
2005, 2009 Penn & Teller: Bullshit! "Conspiracy Theories"
"Astrology"		 TV series
2002 Die Akte Apollo TV movie documentary

Awards and honors
  • The 2007 Weblog Awards – Bad Astronomy was awarded "Best Science Blog," having tied with Climate Audit.[37]
  • In March 2008, Plait had an asteroid named after him by the late astronomer Jeff Medkeff. Asteroid 2000 WG11 was named 165347 Philplait.[38][39]
  • In 2009, Bad Astronomy was named among Time.com's 25 Best Blogs.[40]
  • In 2013, Plait received the National Capital Area Skeptics' Philip J. Klass Award[41]
  • In 2016, Plait was awarded the David N. Schramm Award for High Energy Astrophysics Science Journalism by the American Astronomical Society[42] for his 2015 article entitled "A Supermassive Black Hole's Fiery and Furious Wind."[43]

References
  1. "Plait, Philip Cary (born 1964-09-30)". OCLC. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  2. Plait, Phil (August 4, 2008). "Randi's big shoes to Phil". Bad Astronomy (blog). Discover.com. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  3. "James Randi Educational Foundation Names New President" (Press release). James Randi Educational Foundation. December 7, 2009. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  4. Chmielewski, Dawn (November 6, 2014). "Vlogbrothers Bring "Crash Course" Videos to PBS Digital Studios". Re/code. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  5. "Phil Plait". Samara Lectures. Retrieved January 26, 2014.
  6. Sonneborn, G.; Pun, C. S. J.; Kimble, R. A.; Gull, T. R.; Lundqvist, P.; et al. (January 1998). "Spatially Resolved STIS Spectroscopy of SN 1987A: Evidence for Shock Interaction with Circumstellar Gas". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 492 (2): L139–L142. arXiv:astro-ph/9710373. Bibcode:1998ApJ...492L.139S. doi:10.1086/311106. S2CID 29997086.
  7. Plait, Philip C.; Lundqvist, Peter; Chevalier, Roger A.; Kirshner, Robert P. (February 1995). "HST observations of the ring around SN 1987A". The Astrophysical Journal. 439: 730–751. Bibcode:1995ApJ...439..730P. doi:10.1086/175213.
  8. Kotake, Kei; Sato, Katsuhiko; Takahashi, Keitaro (April 2006). "Explosion mechanism, neutrino burst and gravitational wave in core-collapse supernovae". Reports on Progress in Physics. 69 (4): 971–1143. arXiv:astro-ph/0509456. Bibcode:2006RPPh...69..971K. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/69/4/R03. S2CID 119103628.
  9. Grady, C. A.; Woodgate, B.; Bruhweiler, F. C.; Boggess, A.; Plait, Philip; et al. (October 1999). "Hubble Space Telescope Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph Coronagraphic Imaging of the Herbig Ae Star AB Aurigae". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 523 (2): L151–L154. Bibcode:1999ApJ...523L.151G. doi:10.1086/312270.
  10. Grady, C. A.; Devine, David; Woodgate, B.; Kimble, R.; Bruhweiler, F. C.; et al. (December 2000). "STIS coronagraphic imaging of the Herbig AE Star: HD 163296". The Astrophysical Journal. 544 (2): 895–902. Bibcode:2000ApJ...544..895G. doi:10.1086/317222.
  11. Millan-Gabet, Rafael; Schloerb, F. Peter; Traub, Wesley A. (January 2001). "Spatially Resolved Circumstellar Structure of Herbig Ae/Be Stars in the Near-Infrared". The Astrophysical Journal. 546 (1): 358–381. arXiv:astro-ph/0008072. Bibcode:2001ApJ...546..358M. doi:10.1086/318239. S2CID 14468101.
  12. Natta, A.; Prusti, T.; Neri, R.; Wooden, D.; Grinin, V. P.; et al. (May 2001). "A reconsideration of disk properties in Herbig Ae stars". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 371 (1): 186–197. Bibcode:2001A&A...371..186N. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20010334.
  13. "Dr. Philip Plait: Biography". Bad Astronomy. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
  14. "Phil Plait". Sonoma State University. Archived from the original on August 26, 2013.
  15. Plait, P.; Tim, G.; Cominsky, L. (December 2001). Space Mysteries: Making Science and Astronomy Learning Fun. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2001. December 10–14, 2001. San Francisco, California. Bibcode:2001AGUFMED32A..02P. Abstract #ED32A-02.
  16. Plait, Phil (2008). "Bad Astronomy". Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  17. "Big Announcement Part 1: My next book!". BadAstronomy.com. April 8, 2007. Archived from the original on May 5, 2007. Retrieved May 17, 2007.
  18. "My Sooper Sekrit Project: REVEALED!". Bad Astronomy. Discover Magazine.
  19. Plait, Phil (February 15, 2017). "Arrival - A not really Bad Astronomy review". Syfy.com. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
  20. Howell, Elizabeth. "How Realistic Is the Science in the CBS Show Salvation?". Space.com. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
  21. Plait, Phil. "Bill Nye Saves the World!". Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  22. "Phil Plait at TAM 8: Don't be a Dick". James Randi Educational Foundation. YouTube.com. February 17, 2012. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
  23. "Phil Plait – The Final Epsilon". NECSS. YouTube.com. November 27, 2013. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
  24. "Phil Plait". DragonCon. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
  25. Plait, Phil (October 8, 2009). "Why I'm pro-vax". Discover Magazine. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
  26. Williams, Jenny (January 14, 2013). "Phil Plait: Bad Astronomer and Champion for Science". Wired. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  27. "About Science Getaways". Science Getaways. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
  28. Plait, Phil (March 21, 2008). "Fifteen years". Slate. The Slate Group. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  29. "Point of Inquiry: Phil Plait — The Bad Astronomer" (MP3 Podcast). Point of Inquiry. Center for Inquiry. April 12, 2007. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
  30. "Moon Hoax Spurs Crusade Against Bad Astronomy". The New York Times. Reuters. January 11, 2001. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  31. Doyle, Jim (March 29, 2002). "Astronomer works for heavens' sake / Rohnert Park man corrects misconceptions". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 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.
  32. Thaller, Michelle (January 28, 2004). "The Bad Astronomer". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  33. "Big news: Bad Astronomy is moving to Slate magazine". Bad Astronomy. Discover Magazine. November 2, 2012.
  34. "24.Nov.2012". The Skeptic Zone. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
  35. Swiderski, Adam (January 31, 2017). "Syfy Wire Welcomes Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy". SyfyWire. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  36. Plait, Phil (September 2011). How to defend Earth from asteroids. TEDxBoulder. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  37. "Best Science Blog – The 2007 Weblog Awards". Weblog Awards. November 1, 2007. Archived from the original on December 6, 2013. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
  38. Medkeff, Jeff (March 25, 2008). "Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, and (165347) Philplait". Blue Collar Scientist. Archived from the original on June 5, 2008.
  39. "165347 Philplait (2000 WG11)". JPL Small-Body Database. March 26, 2008.
  40. McNichol, Tom (February 13, 2009). "25 Best Blogs 2009: Bad Astronomer". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on August 27, 2013.
  41. "Shadow of a Doubt". NCAS.org. October 7, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  42. "Winners of the David N. Schramm Award". High Energy Astrophysics Division, American Astronomical Society (HEAD/AAS). Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  43. Plait, Phil (February 25, 2015). "A Supermassive Black Hole's Fiery and Furious Wind". Slate.
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