Category Archives: And Then I Wrote

ⓜ How did I get here?

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This entry is part 34 of 31 in the series And Then I Wrote

(And Then I Wrote…) In order to let my backlog of “Across the Universe” columns build up a bit, I am republishing a selection of other articles that I have written and published in various places…  In 2008, the magazine US Catholic invited a number of writers to submit their choices for modern “spiritual classics”. Here was my choice… Spiritual classics are inspirational works, tested by time, designed to bring one closer to God. Chesterton and Newman come to mind. I have works on my shelf from modern religious writers, from Peter Kreeft to Anne Lamott, who manage to inspire me — when I am not furiously disagreeing with them. But my soul’s deepest stirring comes from a source neither literary nor overtly religious… [In order to read the rest of this post, you have to be a paid-up member of Sacred Space, and logged in as such!]  

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ⓜ The Mad Scientist

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This entry is part 28 of 31 in the series And Then I Wrote

(And Then I Wrote…) In order to let my backlog of “Across the Universe” columns build up a bit, I am republishing a selection of other articles that I have written and published in various places…  In 2006-2007 I took a sabbatical year at Fordham University; where others take sabbaticals to get away from teaching and do research, my idea was to get a break from research and do some teaching! While there, I was invited to write a short article to introduce myself to the Fordham community. Here’s what I gave them: I fell into the scientific life by accident. I chose to attend MIT as much for its science fiction collection as anything else: the career of a mad scientist looked like fun! Once there… [In order to read the rest of this post, you have to be a paid-up member of Sacred Space, and logged in as such!]

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ⓜ The Impact of a Giant

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This entry is part 29 of 31 in the series And Then I Wrote

(And Then I Wrote…) In order to let my backlog of “Across the Universe” columns build up a bit, I am republishing a selection of other articles that I have written and published in various places…  In 2005 I was honored to be one of three scientists invited to contribute to a lengthy obituary for a great scientist whom I once worked for, Al Cameron. We had some fun with it, simply because Al was such an amazing (and talented) guy. To name just three now-commonplace ideas that he was responsible for: 1. He was a pioneer in the theoretical calculation of how elements are made in stars, a field now called “nucleosynthesis” 2. He applied his “s-process” nucleosynthesis theories to elements found in both stars and meteorites, and thus based on a combination data from the spectra of stars and the composition of primitive meteorites recalculated our estimate of the abundances of the elements in the universe. 3. He worked … Continue reading →

ⓜ The godless delusion

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This entry is part 31 of 31 in the series And Then I Wrote

(And Then I Wrote…) Since this site began more than six years ago, every Thursday I have been publishing a reprint from my column “Across the Universe” in the British Catholic journal, The Tablet. I have finally gone through all of them (except for 2019’s columns) and I’ve even re-published a few of the oldest ones that came out here before our readership had grown.  In order to let my backlog build up a bit, I am taking “Across the Universe” offline for 2020. Instead, I am republishing a selection of other articles that I have written an published in various places… often obscure. Remember the “New Atheism”? It was all the rage around 2006 and 2007. At that time, the magazine US Catholic invited me to write my response to people like Dawkins and Hitchens. Here’s what I sent them. It ran in their November, 2008, issue. Last fall [2008], I confess, I was in the habit of looking … Continue reading →

ⓜ By Design (Interview, and response)

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This entry is part 32 of 31 in the series And Then I Wrote

(And Then I Wrote…) Since this site began more than six years ago, every Thursday I have been publishing a reprint from my column “Across the Universe” in the British Catholic journal, The Tablet. I have finally gone through all of them (except for 2019’s columns) and I’ve even re-published a few of the oldest ones that came out here before our readership had grown.  In order to let my backlog build up a bit, I am taking “Across the Universe” offline for 2020. Instead, I am republishing a selection of other articles that I have written an published in various places… often obscure.   Interview and Response: At an early Astrobiology conference (in 2005), the NASA online magazine Astrobiology did an interview of me; here’s what they ran: (Click Here for the version on their site) After this ran, someone wrote to me challenging me on a few of my points and wanting to know just what it was … Continue reading →

ⓜ Pronouncing the Names of the Moons of Saturn…

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This entry is part 37 of 31 in the series And Then I Wrote

…or, Pulling Teeth from Tethys (And Then I Wrote…) Since this site began more than six years ago, every Thursday I have been publishing a reprint from my column “Across the Universe” in the British Catholic journal, The Tablet. I have finally gone through all of them (except for 2019’s columns) and I’ve even re-published a few of the oldest ones that came out here before our readership had grown.  In order to let my backlog build up a bit, I am taking “Across the Universe” offline for 2020. Instead, I am republishing a selection of other articles that I have written an published in various places… often obscure. Here’s an offprint of a paper I first published in the AGU newspaper EOS back in 1982, on a topic that is still current. At the time, I was a postdoc at MIT working on computer models of the moons of Saturn, which were just coming up in conversation for the … Continue reading →

God Under the Dome

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This entry is part 33 of 31 in the series And Then I Wrote

(And Then I Wrote…) Since this site began more than six years ago, every Thursday I have been publishing a reprint from my column “Across the Universe” in the British Catholic journal, The Tablet. I have finally gone through all of them (except for 2019’s columns) and I’ve even re-published a few of the oldest ones that came out here before our readership had grown.  In order to let my backlog build up a bit, I am taking “Across the Universe” offline for 2020. Instead, I am republishing a selection of other articles that I have written and published in various places… often obscure. This article comes from The Planetarian, the magazine of the International Planetarium Society – the folks who run planetariums. It’s based on a talk I gave them in 2003, and ran in their March 2004 issue. Click HERE if you want to see the whole issue. Here’s the blurb that introduces the article: Presenting astronomy to … Continue reading →

The Quest and Questions of the Magi

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This entry is part 30 of 31 in the series And Then I Wrote

(And Then I Wrote…) Since this site began more than six years ago, every Thursday I have been publishing a reprint from my column “Across the Universe” in the British Catholic journal, The Tablet. I have finally gone through all of them (except for 2019’s columns) and I’ve even re-published a few of the oldest ones that came out here before our readership had grown.  In order to let my backlog build up a bit, I am taking “Across the Universe” offline for 2020. Instead, I am republishing a selection of other articles that I have written an published in various places… often obscure. This one is not so obscure, and in fact it’s a reprint of a posting here from four years ago… but I thought it would be appropriate to show it again during this season. How did this article come about? I was invited to write an article about the Magi for the edition of L’Osservatore Romano of … Continue reading →