Tom Siegfried

Tom Siegfried

Contributing Correspondent

Tom Siegfried is a contributing correspondent. He was editor in chief of Science News from 2007 to 2012, and he was the managing editor from 2014 to 2017. He is the author of the blog Context. In addition to Science News, his work has appeared in Science, Nature, Astronomy, New Scientist and Smithsonian. Previously he was the science editor of The Dallas Morning News. He is the author of four books: The Bit and the Pendulum (Wiley, 2000); Strange Matters (National Academy of Sciences’ Joseph Henry Press, 2002);  A Beautiful Math (2006, Joseph Henry Press); and The Number of the Heavens (Harvard University Press, 2019). Tom was born in Lakewood, Ohio, and grew up in nearby Avon. He earned an undergraduate degree from Texas Christian University with majors in journalism, chemistry and history, and has a master of arts with a major in journalism and a minor in physics from the University of Texas at Austin. His awards include the American Geophysical Union's Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism, the Science-in Society award from the National Association of Science Writers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science-Westinghouse Award, the American Chemical Society’s James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public, and the American Institute of Physics Science Communication Award.

All Stories by Tom Siegfried

  1. Space

    The Status Quark

    Murray Gell-Mann reflects on matter’s building blocks and scientists’ resistance to new ideas.

  2. Cosmology

    Infinity

    Success in coping with infinity could strengthen case for multiple universes.

  3. Strings Link the Ultracold with the Superhot

    Perfect liquids suggest theory’s math mirrors something real.

  4. Life

    Darwin’s Evolution

    Darwin's life and his contribution to science.

  5. The decider

    Informing the debate over the reality of ‘free will’ requires learning something about the lateral habenula.

  6. Physics

    It’s Likely That Times Are Changing

    A century ago, mathematician Hermann Minkowski famously merged space with time, establishing a new foundation for physics; today physicists are rethinking how the two should fit together

  7. Physics

    Decoding the Quantum Mystery

    An essay by Tom Siegfried, SN's Editor in Chief, explores how signals from space to Earth could establish the reality of Einstein's worst fear.

  8. Space

    BOOK REVIEW | Einstein and Oppenheimer: The Meaning of Genius by Silvan S. Schweber

    Review by Tom Siegfried.

  9. Humans

    Change Without Change

    New clothes for the modern media climate, but no departure from traditional purpose for Science News.

  10. Physics

    Celebrating the laser

    An introduction to the special section on lasers.