history
Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” I: A Lunchtime Conversation- Enrico Fermi and Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Welcome back to our Fermi Paradox series, where we take a look at possible resolutions to Enrico Fermi's famous question,…
3-D Views of Humanity’s First Spacewalk, 50 Years Ago Today
On March 18, 1965 Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk in history, floating outside his Voskhod 2 capsule.…
How Did We Find the Distance to the Sun?
How far is the Sun? It seems as if one could hardly ask a more straightforward question. Yet this very…
Calling All Volunteers to Help Digitize Astronomical History
An old brick building on Harvard’s Observatory Hill is overflowing with rows of dark green cabinets — each one filled…
45 Years Ago Today: Relive the Historic Apollo 11 Launch
45 years ago today -- on July 16th, 1969 -- the Apollo 11 crew left Earth for the first human…
Why Einstein Will Never Be Wrong
One of the benefits of being an astrophysicist is your weekly email from someone who claims to have “proven Einstein…
55 Years of NASA
Today is NASA's 55th birthday. Unfortunately, the celebration is muted due to the government shutdown, forcing much of NASA to…
Apollo 15: “Stand by for a Hard Impact”
On this day in history, the crew of Apollo 15 returned home from their mission to the Moon. But the…
Are Our Textbooks Wrong? Astronomers Clash Over Hubble’s Legacy
“No scientific discovery is named after its discoverer," - Stigler/Merton. Edwin Hubble's contributions to astronomy earned him the honor of having…
Live from 1969: Apollo 9 Returns Home
“On the success of Apollo 9 mission hangs the hope for future manned missions to the Moon,” said famous CBS…