DeVorkin, David
Senior Curator Emeritus
DeVorkin, David
Senior Curator Emeritus
History of modern astrophysics; history of astronomy and the space sciences; oral history and biography.
Background And Education
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
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
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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
- 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
- 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
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Blog Posting
- O'Hearn, Robin and DeVorkin, David H. 2016. "What's that Smell? Conserving Apollo 16 Film Transport." The National Air and Space Museum Stories 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…." http://blog.nasm.si.edu/ Washington, DC: National Air and Space Museum. February 26. http://blog.nasm.si.edu/astronomy/vulcan-but-thats-not-logical/. 2013
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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. Proceedings of the Symposium in Honor of the Reopening of the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology and the Smithsonian Libraries' Resident Scholar Program. 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. New York: 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
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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. McCarty, Cara and McQuaid, Matilda, editors. 248–249. New York: 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. Vekerdy, Lilla, editor. 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. McCarty, Cara and McQuaid, Matilda, editors. 249. New York: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. 2014
- DeVorkin, David H. 2014. "“The Hubble Space Telescope,”." In Milestones of Space: Eleven Iconic Objects from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.. Neufeld, Michael J., editor. 159–171. Minneapolis: Zenith. 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
- 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. Morrison-Low, Allison D., Dupré, Sven, Johnston, Stephen, and Strano, Giorgio, editors. 195–234. Leiden: Brill. 23 in History of Science and Medicine Library. 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. Krupnik, Igor, Lang, Michael A., and Miller, Scott E., editors. 35–48. In IPY. 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 -
Contact
Location
- National Air & Space Museum Academic Department
