Jonathan McDowell

Dr. Jonathan McDowell is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He is a staff member at the Chandra X-ray Center. Dr. McDowell is the author and editor of Jonathan's Space Report, an e-mail-distributed newsletter documenting satellite launches.

Education and career

McDowell has a BA in Mathematics (1981) from Churchill College and a PhD in Astrophysics (1986) from the Institute of Astronomy, both at the University of Cambridge, England. After high school, McDowell worked for six months at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich and held a summer job at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh before he began his PhD studies. His first post-doctoral position was at Jodrell Bank followed by another at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. McDowell then moved to Huntsville, Alabama, where he spent a year at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Since 1992, McDowell has been back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, working as a staff member at the Chandra X-ray Center.

Research interests

McDowell's main research interests include:

On the software side, McDowell helped design the CIAO[1] data analysis package and the software infrastructure for the Chandra X-ray Observatory data processing pipelines. More recently, McDowell led the creation of an exhibit of astronomical images at the Smithsonian.[2] He is co-director of an undergraduate summer research program whose alumni include Alicia M. Soderberg and Planet Hunters scientist Megan Schwamb .[3]

Jonathan's Space Report

In his free time, McDowell conducts research into the history of the space program, and since 1989 has written and edited Jonathan's Space Report, a free internet newsletter documenting technical details on satellite launches. This information, culled from original sources including declassified Department of Defense documents and Russian-language publications, can also be found on McDowell's web site.[4]

Media

From 1993 to 2010, McDowell wrote a monthly column for Sky and Telescope. In addition, McDowell has been interviewed on numerous television and radio programs[5] with regard to rocket launches or other celestial phenomena that generated interest amongst the general public.

Asteroid

The asteroid 4589 McDowell was named after him in 1993.

Activism

In addition to his astronomical activities, McDowell has been engaged in progressive activism, for example Planned Parenthood, and other social endeavors such as promoting skepticism and atheism [6][7] .[8]

References

  1. ↑ Chandra Interactive Analysis of Observations
  2. ↑ The Evolving Universe
  3. ↑ SAO REU Summer Intern Program
  4. ↑ Jonathan's Space Report
  5. ↑ http://www.planet4589.org/jcm/talks/
  6. ↑ Boston Atheists
  7. ↑ Harvard Humanists
  8. ↑ Boston Skeptics


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