My Story
II am an astronomer who became a presenter, who became an explainer, who became a science communicator, who became an educator. My work at The Franklin Institute spans an incredible 45 years! During that time, my experiences have been nothing less than incredible and amazing. From showing the 'King of Pop', Michael Jackson, how to look through our telescope to vacationing with Scott Carpenter-one of the Mercury 7 astronauts, to setting up a telescope for President Obama and his family to look through on the White House lawn, I've been able accomplish things I only dared to dream of as a young Black kid growing up in the gang-controlled neighborhoods of North Philadelphia, PA.
As an explainer, I developed an incredible ability to explain complex science concepts to audiences of all ages and levels of understanding. My 'science explainer' game is so cold, I've been the 'Sky Guy' on Philadelphia's WXPN radio Kids' Corner program for 35 years, the 'Sky Guy' on Philadelphia's NPR affiliate WHYY radio for 33 years, appeared four times on CBS Mornings, four times on PBS NOVA programs, 5 times on BBC Science programs, five times on BBC America news programs, three times on The Late, Late, Show with Craig Ferguson, more than a dozen times on Al Jazeera America, and countless appearances on other local and national broadcasts and programs.
Ever since I was young, I've been excited about science. Growing up during the start of the Space program fueled my interest in space exploration and astronomy. When I was about 11, I had a poster of the Andromeda galaxy on my bedroom wall and I thought, "If I could ever get to visit an observatory like the one where this telescopes is, it'll be a dream come true!" Forty years later, I spent ten years working on education outreach project for what will soon be the world's largest optical telescope, Thirty Meter Telescope at Hawai'i's Mauna Kea Observatory, visited the 66-dish ALMA radio array in Chile's Atacama desert, and have flown numerous items on various Space Shuttle missions. In fact, I was invited to be a crew member on a 4-day mission aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight.
Today, I'm a NASA Solar System Ambassador, President of the Board of Directors of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, serve on the Board of Trustees for AUI, Inc., and my alma mater, St. Lawrence University. I've traveled and dined with numerous astronauts, met and hung out with many Nobel prize-winning astronomers, and have been awarded three honorary degrees, all because I can easily translate the most complex science concepts into language understandable by anyone.
But my greatest inspiration and satisfaction comes from providing authentic science experiences - looking through a telescope for the first time - for kids. The illustration above comes from an article published in Sky & Telescope magazine about my outreach work through a NASA grant. It highlights an experience I had one evening at a playground in North Philly where a young girl saw the moon through my telescope for the first time. I'll never forget she said, "It's so beautiful!". All my work, all my experiences, all the years - justified in this one moment. Can anything surpass her expression of amazement? Not even Galileo could ask for more.
As an explainer, I developed an incredible ability to explain complex science concepts to audiences of all ages and levels of understanding. My 'science explainer' game is so cold, I've been the 'Sky Guy' on Philadelphia's WXPN radio Kids' Corner program for 35 years, the 'Sky Guy' on Philadelphia's NPR affiliate WHYY radio for 33 years, appeared four times on CBS Mornings, four times on PBS NOVA programs, 5 times on BBC Science programs, five times on BBC America news programs, three times on The Late, Late, Show with Craig Ferguson, more than a dozen times on Al Jazeera America, and countless appearances on other local and national broadcasts and programs.
Ever since I was young, I've been excited about science. Growing up during the start of the Space program fueled my interest in space exploration and astronomy. When I was about 11, I had a poster of the Andromeda galaxy on my bedroom wall and I thought, "If I could ever get to visit an observatory like the one where this telescopes is, it'll be a dream come true!" Forty years later, I spent ten years working on education outreach project for what will soon be the world's largest optical telescope, Thirty Meter Telescope at Hawai'i's Mauna Kea Observatory, visited the 66-dish ALMA radio array in Chile's Atacama desert, and have flown numerous items on various Space Shuttle missions. In fact, I was invited to be a crew member on a 4-day mission aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight.
Today, I'm a NASA Solar System Ambassador, President of the Board of Directors of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, serve on the Board of Trustees for AUI, Inc., and my alma mater, St. Lawrence University. I've traveled and dined with numerous astronauts, met and hung out with many Nobel prize-winning astronomers, and have been awarded three honorary degrees, all because I can easily translate the most complex science concepts into language understandable by anyone.
But my greatest inspiration and satisfaction comes from providing authentic science experiences - looking through a telescope for the first time - for kids. The illustration above comes from an article published in Sky & Telescope magazine about my outreach work through a NASA grant. It highlights an experience I had one evening at a playground in North Philly where a young girl saw the moon through my telescope for the first time. I'll never forget she said, "It's so beautiful!". All my work, all my experiences, all the years - justified in this one moment. Can anything surpass her expression of amazement? Not even Galileo could ask for more.
One aspect of my work that always blows my mind is that I never know who I'll end up working with. A little while ago, comedian Craig Ferguson invited me to be a guest during his stint as host of The Late Show with Craig Ferguson. I appeared on the show four times, three times with Craig and once with Wayne Brady as host. Craig stopped in to visit TFI one day and I was his host. His strong interest in Egytptology brought him to see the Cleopatra exhibit we were featuring at the time. Ferguson is by far one of the sharpest thinkers I've run into.
Me with Wayne Brady on the set of The Late Show. I did a few science demos on the show and we had (what I thought was) great double-entendre banter during my segment. Also one of the smartest people I've met.
Here I'm on set for the CBS Mornings News program with Gail King, Charlie Rose, and Nora O'Donnell. I was a science contributor five times. Look how small the table was!
HAWAII - Thirty Meter Telescope
Here I'm standing on what looks like the edge of the world. It's actually the peak of the extinct volcano Mauna Kea, where a number of the world's finest telescopes are stationed, at one of the finest observing sites in the world. In the distance you see the cloud decks below and another extinct volcano Haleakala, on the next island over - Maui. The altitude where I'm standing is 14,6oo ft. It doesn't look like it but it's about 35 degrees F and the wind is about 30 mph. At this altitude, there's 40% less oxygen available to breathe. It takes a few hours to acclimatize.
Here I'm standing on what looks like the edge of the world. It's actually the peak of the extinct volcano Mauna Kea, where a number of the world's finest telescopes are stationed, at one of the finest observing sites in the world. In the distance you see the cloud decks below and another extinct volcano Haleakala, on the next island over - Maui. The altitude where I'm standing is 14,6oo ft. It doesn't look like it but it's about 35 degrees F and the wind is about 30 mph. At this altitude, there's 40% less oxygen available to breathe. It takes a few hours to acclimatize.
This is a view of a few of the scopes on the summit. I'm facing this direction in the image above.
Here I've shifted to one of the corresponding observatories in the Southern Hemisphere at the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile. The big scope is the 4m Blanco reflector, sister to the 4m Mayall reflector at Kitt Peak in Arizona. In Chile on an ACEAP (Astronomy in Chile Educators Ambassador Program) observatory tour, I visited 6 different observatories to learn about the extensive collection of world class telescopes on various Chilean mountain peaks. The night skies were amazingly dark, as you might expect.
This is the front entrance to the ALMA Radio Telescope Observatory in the Atacama Desert in northeast Chile. This operations center is at 10,800 ft altitude. The altiplano desert - that mountain peak behind me here - where the 66 radio dishes are, is at 16,000ft! I'm on the Board of Trustees of the science lab management agency that runs this observatory and several other radio telescopes around the world.
Dry lakebed, looking East towards the Observatory. It hasn't rained here in over 400 years!
The radio dishes are behind the mountain ridge just below the moon. A dormant volcanic peak just out of the image to the right had a puff of smoke above it. It was incredible but this is where cutting edge astronomy is done, at the world's most exotic locations.
Back in Flagstaff, AZ sitting at the business end of Perceival Lowell's 40" Clark refractor, one of the most famous telescopes in the world. Lowell is where Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto, in 1930. I was here shooting a production for the BBC about the history of exploring Mars.
