astronomers
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Quickies
Quickies: Celebrating Black joy in sci-fi, science, fatherhood, fitness, and nature…
Well, I definitely missed the Friday Quickies this week. Oops. So let’s end the weekend by celebrating some Black joy and accomplishments in the wake of Juneteenth. (And, yes, these selections are totally biased towards my loves of Star Trek, astronomy, and fitness.) Listen to the amazing Nichelle Nichols talk about the era of blaxploitation in film and how Dr.…
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Science
Spacelink, the Sky, and Colonialist Attitudes
Rebecca already posted an excellent video critique of Elon Musk’s Starlink concept, but as Skepchick’s resident astronomer, I thought I’d expand upon it a bit. You all might know that I’m a radio astronomer, but I have at least a little bit of experience with visual observing as well. As an astronomy professor at a small college, I also run…
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Feminism
Prominent Astronomer Named in Sexual Harassment Case, and We’re Not Gunna Take It Anymore
Sometime on Friday the news broke: famous astronomer and discoverer of exoplanets Geoff Marcy has been accused of sexually harassing female students for years. (See UPDATE below for how you can help!) (UPDATE 2: Geoff Marcy has resigned. See below.) This news came as a surprise to some. It was a sigh of “FINALLY!” for others. Me, I wasn’t surprised,…
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Activism
Stick to the Science! Or, Why I am Deeply Annoyed at Some Fellow Astronomers
All too often when a public (or semi-public) discourse involves many facets of a problem, someone is going to make a point to tell scientists to “stick to the science!” And all too often, this is used as a way to shut down someone saying something rather uncomfortable. Here’s why I’m not going to abide by that statement. Over the…
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