Robert Naeye, Editor in Chief

Editor in Chief of Sky and Telescope Magazine and SkyandTelescope.com,  Bob is in his third appointment at S&T. With positions from editorial intern, to senior editor with S&T, he has also worked as a researcher/reporter at Discover magazine, an editor at Astronomy Magazine and editor in chief of Mercury Magazine.  Bob was also the senior science writer in the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Bob has authored two books and contributed to two others.   His 1997 book Through the Eyes of Hubble:  The Birth, Life and Violent Death of Stars was published by Kalmbach.  His 2000 book Signals from Space:  The Chandra X-ray Observatory was co-published by Turnstone and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Bob owns five telescopes and more eyepieces than he can count. His favorite deep-sky activity is perusing the ghostly tendrils of the Veil Nebula using an OIII filter. Bob is a proud member of the American Astronomical Society, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston, and the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg, which is based near his hometown of Hershey, Pennsylvania.

J. Kelly Beatty, Senior Editor

S&T: Craig Michael Utter

Specializing in planetary science and space exploration, Kelly writes many of the feature articles and news items found in Sky & Telescope and on this Web site. He also conceived and edited The New Solar System, considered a standard reference among planetary scientists, and he's on the science faculty at the Dexter and Southfield Schools in Brookline, Massachusetts.

In 2005 Kelly was honored with the Harold Masursky Award for meritorious service by the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society. The following year he received the prestigious Astronomical League Award for his contributions to the science of astronomy.

Kelly Beatty, S&T's Senior Contributing Editor, joined the staff of Sky Publishing in 1974. He also served as the editor of Night Sky, our magazine for beginning stargazers, in 2004-07.

Dennis di Cicco, Senior Editor

Dennis di Cicco

Dennis di Cicco joined the staff of Sky & Telescope in 1974, bringing with him an educational background in mechanical engineering and experience as a telescope maker, astrophotographer, and observer dating back to the early 1960s. Among his credits, he is particularly proud of his involvement with the creation of S&T's popular Test Reports and Gallery. He has also led expeditions to view solar eclipses around the globe and astrophotography workshops in Australia's Outback. His photography, well known to S&T's readers, has appeared in hundreds of books and magazines and includes the award-winning, year-long photograph of the Sun's analemma made in the late 1970s.

Dennis started working with astronomical CCDs in 1990, and he did pioneering work in tricolor imaging. He was the principal force behind the creation of Sky Publishing's quarterly CCD Astronomy and served as its Senior Editor until the publication was folded into Sky & Telescope in early 1997.

“Mixing your hobby and profession is more challenging than most people think,” he says, “but I will forever be an active amateur astronomer.”

Dava Sobel, New York Times Best Selling Author

Dava Sobel Photo by Libi Pedder.

Dava Sobel, a former New York Times science reporter, is the author of Longitude (Walker 1995 and 2005, Penguin 1996), Galileo's Daughter (Walker 1999, Penguin 2000) and The Planets (Viking 2005, Penguin 2006). In her thirty years as a science journalist she has written for many magazines, including Audubon, Discover, Life and The New Yorker, served as a contributing editor to Harvard Magazine and Omni, and co-authored five books, including Is Anyone Out There? with astronomer Frank Drake.

Ms. Sobel received the 2001 Individual Public Service Award from the National Science Board “for fostering awareness of science and technology among broad segments of the general public.” Also in 2001, the Boston Museum of Science gave her its prestigious Bradford Washburn Award for her “outstanding contribution toward public understanding of science, appreciation of its fascination, and the vital role it plays in all our lives.” In October 2004, in London, Ms. Sobel received the Harrison Medal from the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, in recognition of her contribution to increasing awareness of the science of horology by the general public, through her writing and lecturing. In 2008 the Astronomical Society of the Pacific gave her its Klumpke-Roberts Award for "increasing the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy. From January through March 2006, Ms. Sobel served as the Robert Vare Nonfiction Writer in Residence at the University of Chicago, where she taught a seminar in science writing while pursuing research on her new project—a stage play about sixteenth-century astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, called And the Sun Stood Still. Her play was commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club through the Alfred P. Sloan Initiative, and is also supported by a Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Ms. Sobel received the 2001 Individual Public Service Award from the National Science Board “for fostering awareness of science and technology among broad segments of the general public.” Also in 2001, the Boston Museum of Science gave her its prestigious Bradford Washburn Award for her “outstanding contribution toward public understanding of science, appreciation of its fascination, and the vital role it plays in all our lives.” In October 2004, in London, Ms. Sobel received the Harrison Medal from the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, in recognition of her contribution to increasing awareness of the science of horology by the general public, through her writing and lecturing. In 2008 the Astronomical Society of the Pacific gave her its Klumpke-Roberts Award for "increasing the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy. From January through March 2006, Ms. Sobel served as the Robert Vare Nonfiction Writer in Residence at the University of Chicago, where she taught a seminar in science writing while pursuing research on her new project—a stage play about sixteenth-century astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, called And the Sun Stood Still. Her play was commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club through the Alfred P. Sloan Initiative, and is also supported by a Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Longitude went through twenty-nine hardcover printings before being re-issued in October 2005 in a special tenth-anniversary edition with a foreword by astronaut Neil Armstrong. Soon after its original publication in 1995, the book was translated into two dozen foreign languages and became a national and international bestseller, much to Ms. Sobel's surprise. It won several literary prizes, including the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and "Book of the Year" in England. Together with William J. H. Andrewes, who introduced her to the subject of longitude, Ms. Sobel co-authored The Illustrated Longitude (Walker 1998 and 2003).

She based her book Galileo's Daughter on 124 surviving letters to Galileo from his eldest child. Ms. Sobel translated the letters from the original Italian and used them to elucidate Galileo¹s life work. Galileo's Daughter won the 1999 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for science and technology, a 2000 Christopher Award, and was a finalist for the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in biography. The paperback edition enjoyed five consecutive weeks as the #1 New York Times nonfiction bestseller. A sequel, Letters to Father, containing the full text of Galileo's daughter's correspondence in both English and Italian, was published by Walker in 2001. An English-only edition, a Penguin “Classic,” followed in 2003.

The PBS science program “NOVA” produced a television documentary called “Lost At Sea — The Search for Longitude,” which was based on Ms. Sobel's book. Granada Films of England created a dramatic version of the story, “Longitude,” starring Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon, which aired on A&E as a four-hour made-for-TV movie. A two-hour “NOVA” documentary based on Galileo's Daughter, called “Galileo¹s Battle for the Heavens,” first aired on public television in October 2002, and won an Emmy in the category of historical programming.

Lecture engagements have taken Ms. Sobel to speak at The Smithsonian Institution, The Explorers' Club, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, The Folger Shakespeare Library, The New York Public Library, The Hayden Planetarium, and The Royal Geographical Society (London). She has been a frequent guest on National Public Radio programs, including “All Things Considered,” “Fresh Air,” “The Connection” with Christopher Lydon, and “The Diane Rheem Show.” Her television appearances include C-SPAN's “Booknotes” and “TODAY” on NBC.

A 1964 graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, Ms. Sobel attended Antioch College and the City College of New York before receiving her bachelor of arts degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1969. She holds honorary doctor of letters degrees from the University of Bath, in England, and Middlebury College, Vermont, both awarded in 2002.

A play based on Galileo's Daughter, written by Timberlake Wertenbaker and directed by Sir Peter Hall, premiered in Bath, England, in July 2004. In October 2005, a play by Arnold Wesker, based on Longitude, directed by Fiona Laird, enjoyed a successful limited engagement at the Greenwich Theatre near London.

Ms. Sobel is the editor of the collection Best American Science Writing 2004, published by Ecco Press.