Blue Collar Scientist

Phil Plait is a great guy, and I’m just tickled pink that I’m the person who got to name an asteroid after him.

I first had interactions with Phil in 1995, when I was literally a nobody, an amateur astronomer with no research under my belt and only one article published in a major astronomy magazine almost ten years before. From time to time over the years we exchanged e-mail about various subjects, but we never met, and contact was separated by enough time that I assumed each time I got in touch he’d have forgotten me from the last time. When I called him on the phone a couple years ago to help me name asteroids after the Skepticality hosts, I was surprised that he recognized my name.

When Bad Astronomy went from a static website to a blog, and when Bad Astronomy (the book) was published, Phil started to look like a serious heavy hitter in astronomy education to me. It seemed to me that he, more than anyone else, was doing the hardest kind of astronomy education. He was taking on the kind of harmless cranks that show up at a public star parties to look through my telescope, and regale me with stories about how the moon landing was faked, or about how gravity from some planetary alignment would destroy the Earth. I began to get laser printer business cards, on which I printed an appropriate collection of URLs from Phil’s website, to hand out at these events to people wanting or needing real information.

I’ve been following Phil’s work now for more than ten years, and finally met him last January at TAM 5.5. I am persuaded - having given it a lot of thought - that he will likely be our next Carl Sagan. I take nothing away from Tyson, or any of the many others doing outstanding work in communicating astronomy, but Phil has not only the knowledge and professionalism, but also the enthusiasm and the sense of humor needed to fill those shoes. And more importantly, Phil is a free agent, devoting himself to science communication full time, on his own terms. I am very much looking forward to seeing what he accomplishes in the next few years.

The naming citation I submitted for Phil reads:

Phil Plait (b. 1964) is an astronomer, educator, and author. Since 1998 Plait has educated the public and debunked astronomy myths and misconceptions through his popular website, books, and media appearances.

I have a confession. I would have named an asteroid after Phil years ago, but stupidly, I assumed it had already been done - and I never checked to make sure until last December. Better late than never, Phil!