education and training
- B.A., University of California, Los Angeles
- M.Phil., Yale University
- M.S., San Diego State University
- Ph.D., University of Leicester
DeVorkin, David
Senior Curator Emeritus
History of modern astrophysics; history of astronomy and the space sciences; oral history and biography.
Background And Education
awards and honors
Research And Grants
investigator on
- missing activity
- Bahcall Distinguished Lecturer awarded by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) - Goddard Space Flight Center
- Exploring Space: Lecture and Education Outreach Series 2008-2010 awarded by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- International Year of Astronomy Public Telescope awarded by National Science Foundation
- Public Observatory Project-Transition Phase awarded by National Science Foundation
- Rhythms of the Universe awarded by Richard Lounsbery Foundation
Publications
selected publications
-
article
- Obituary George Carruthers (1939-2020). Nature. 590:547-547. 2021
- Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance between Astrophysics and the Military, by Neil De Grasse Tyson and Avis Lang. Quest: The History of Spaceflight Magazine. 27:64-65. 2020
- An Encyclopaedic Biography. Journal for the History of Astronomy. 51:374-376. 2020
- Cosmic Sculptures: A Review of Cosmic Clouds 3-D: Where Stars Are Born. Quest: The History of Spaceflight Magazine. 27:69-69. 2020
- Jan Hendrik Oort: Master of the Galactic System, by Pieter C. van der Kruit. Journal for the History of Astronomy. 51:374-376. 2020
- Charles Olivier and the Rise of Meteor Science.. Isis. 110:187-188. 2019
- When to Send Your Telescope Aloft. Journal for the History of Astronomy. 50:265-305. 2019
- Black Hole: How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein, and Gambled on by Hawking Became Loved. Journal for the History of Astronomy. 49:497-498. 2018
- How do a thousand physicists decide if something is for real?. Endeavour. 41:68. 2017
- Waiting for Contact: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Isis. 108:882-883. 2017
- From Jars to the Stars: How Ball Came to Build a Comet-Hunting Machine, by Todd Neff. Quest: The History of Spaceflight Magazine. 22:63. 2015
- Mystery Star. Air and Space. 30:40-45. 2015
- Stratonauts: Pioneers Venturing into the Stratosphere, by Manfred "Dutch" von Ehrenfried. Quest: The History of Spaceflight Magazine. 22:57. 2015
- [Book Review:] The Asteroid Threat: Defending Our Planet from Deadly Near Earth Objects, by William E. Burrrows. Quest: The History of Spaceflight Magazine. 22:60. 2015
- [Book review:] An Encyclopedia: Encyclopedia of the History of Astronomy and Astrophysics, by David Leverington. Journal for the History of Astronomy. 45:130-131. 2014
- DeVorkin, David H. 2014. "“The Hubble Space Telescope,”." in Milestones of Space: Eleven Iconic Objects from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum., edited by Neufeld, Michael J., 159-171. Zenith. 2014
- History is Too Important to the Left to the Historians. Organizations, People and Strategies in Astronomy. 2:417-440. 2013
- Pluto: The Problem Planet and Its Scientists 2013
- [Book review:] Advancing Variable Star Astronomy: The Centennial History of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, by Thomas R. Williams and Michael Saladyga. Isis. 104:831-832. 2013
- Opening Space Research: Dreams, Technology, and Scientific Discovery by George H. Ludwig. Isis. 103:617-618. 2012
- Muir-Harmony, Teasel, Abrahams, Peter, and DeVorkin, David H. 2012. "Wide-Field Photographic Telescopes: The Yale, Harvard and Harvard/Smithsonian Meteor and Satellite Camera Networks." in From Earth-Bound to Satellite: Telescopes, Skills and Networks, edited by Morrison-Low, Allison D., Dupré, Sven, Johnston, Stephen, and and Strano, Giorgio., 195-234. Brill. 2012
- Obituary: Allan R. Sandage (1926-2010). Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. 43. 2011
- DeVorkin, David H. and Neufeld, Michael J. 2011. "Space Artifact or Nazi Weapon? Displaying the Smithsonian's V-2 Missile, 1976-2011." Endeavour 35 (4):187-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.endeavour.2011.08.003 2011
- Unravelling William Huggins. Metascience. 21:733-735. 2011
- [Book Review:] Finding Meaning in the Martian Landscape," review of Marcia Lane, Geographies of Mars: Seeing and Knowing the Red Planet,. American Scientist. 99:262-263. 2011
- Commission 41 Working Group on Astronomy and World Heritage. Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, Series B. 27:267-269. 2010
- Commission 41: History of Astronomy. Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, Series B. 27:263-266. 2010
- Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence: C.H. Payne H.N. Russell and standards of evidence in early quantitative spectroscopy. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. 13:139-144. 2010
- In Sputnik's Shadow: The President's Science Advisory Committee and Cold War America. Isis. 101:268-270. 2010
- Lloyd Berkner and the IGY Proposal in Context: With Some Comments on the Implications for the CSAGI Request for Launching Earth Orbiting Satellites 2010
- [Book review:] Astronomical Spectrographs and their History (Hearnshaw). Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. 13:84-85. 2010
- In the grip of the big telescope age. Experimental Astronomy. 25:63-77. 2009
- Commission 41: History of Astronomy. Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, Series B. 26:224-227. 2007
- Review of Stargazer: The Life and Times of the Telescope. Quest: The History of Spaceflight Magazine. 14:62-62. 2007
- Revolutionaries of the cosmos: the astrophysicists / Oxford University Press, Oxford, xiv 317 pp., 2006, ISBN 0-19-857099-6. Journal for the History of Astronomy. 38:134-136. 2007
- The cosmic century: A history of astrophysics and cosmology. Isis. 98:661-662. 2007
-
blog posting
- What's that Smell? Conserving Apollo 16 Film Transport 2016
- Women Who Changed the Universe and How We Portray Them 2016
- Finding Pluto With the Blink Comparator 2015
- Remembering Noel W. Hinners 2014
- Repairing Hubble 2014
- Weitekamp, Margaret A. and DeVorkin, David H. 2013. "Vulcan? But It’s Not Logical…." [Blog] . 2013. http://blog.nasm.si.edu/astronomy/vulcan-but-thats-not-logical/. 2013
-
book
- Fred Whipple's empire: the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 1955-1973 2018
- The Era of Experiments and the Age of Wonder: Scientific Expansion from the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Century. Ed. Vekerdy, Lilla. 2015
- The Hubble Cosmos: 25 Years of New Vistas in Space 2015
- Hubble’s Legacy: Reflections by Those Who Dreamed It, Built It, and Observed the Universe with It 2014
- Weitekamp, Margaret A., DeVorkin, David H., and Kidd, Diane. 2013. Pluto's Secret: An Icy World's Tale of Discovery. Abrams Books for Young Readers. 2013
- Hubble: Imaging Space and Time 2011
- Globalizing Polar Science: Reconsidering the International Polar and Geophysical Years 2010
- Hubble: Imaging Space and Time 2008
-
chapter
- Forward 2016
- Rate of Formation of Stars Suitable for the Development of Intelligent Life, R*, pre-1961. 21-37. 2015
- DeVorkin, David H. and Hollins, Hunter. 2015. "Satellite Aerial 2 (Replica)." in Tools: Extending Our Reach, edited by McCarty, Cara and McQuaid, Matilda., 248-249. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. 2015
- DeVorkin, David H. 2015. "Utilizing Dibner Resources at the National Air and Space Museum." in The Era of Experiments and the Age of Wonder: Scientific Expansion from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Centuries, edited by Vekerdy, Lilla., 65-70. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. 2015
- Epilogue: Exhibiting the Hubble Space Telescope. 131-150. 2014
- Hollins, Hunter and DeVorkin, David H. 2014. "Satellite: Ariel 2." in Tools: Extending Our Reach, edited by McCarty, Cara and McQuaid, Matilda., 249. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. 2014
- Henry Norris Russell and the Expanding Universe. Origins of the Expanding Universe 1912-1932. 1-17. 2013
- Photography Changes the Collection of Astronomical Data. Photography Changes Everything. 157-159. 2012
- Space Heritage. Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the Context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention: A Thematic Study. 229-237. 2011
- Toward the Poles: A Historiography of Scientific Exploration during the IPYs and IGY. 47-81. 2010
- DeVorkin, David H. 2009. "Preserving the Origins of the Space Age: The Material Legacy of the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958) at the National Air and Space Museum." in Smithsonian at the Poles: Contributions to International Polar Year Science, edited by Krupnik, Igor, Lang, Michael A., and Miller, Scott E., 35-48. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.097884601X.4 2009
- "V-2 Spectrograph," "Minimum Orbital Unmanned Satellite of the Earth (MOUSE),". 25-49. 2007
Affiliation
member of
- missing activity 2008 -
Other
Location
- National Air & Space Museum Academic Department
