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. Science & Society

    Many fictional moon voyages preceded the Apollo landing

    Landing on the moon for real dramatically demonstrated the confluence of science with the moon’s cultural mystique.

  2. Science & Society

    Murray Gell-Mann gave structure to the subatomic world

    Best known for his quarks, the preeminent theoretical physicist was also a complexity pioneer

  3. Science & Society

    These are the top 10 landmarks in the history of making measurements

    Little appreciated but vastly important, metrology celebrates a long history with the adoption of new definitions for key units.

  4. Science & Society

    Black hole image validates imagining the unimaginable

    Human creativity conjured up the most extreme of astronomical phenomena long before they could be seen.

  5. Science & Society

    This Greek philosopher had the right idea, just too few elements

    The ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles wrongly believed matter to consist of just four elements, but he grasped the basic idea of forces governing unchanging matter.

  6. Science & Society

    Top 10 science anniversaries to celebrate in 2019

    Top 10 science anniversaries in 2019 include expeditions, treatises and tabulations.

  7. Chemistry

    How the periodic table went from a sketch to an enduring masterpiece

    150 years ago, Russian chemist Dmitrii Mendeleev created the periodic table of the elements, revolutionizing chemistry.

  8. Quantum Physics

    ‘Beyond Weird’ and ‘What Is Real?’ try to make sense of quantum weirdness

    The books ‘Beyond Weird’ and ‘What is Real?’ have different perspectives on what quantum physics says about reality.

  9. Science & Society

    Before his early death, Riemann freed geometry from Euclidean prejudices

    The originator of Riemann’s hypothesis died young, but he provided the geometry needed for modern view of spacetime.

  10. Science & Society

    5 decades after his death, George Gamow’s contributions to science survive

    George Gamow, irreverent physicist and prolific popularizer, died half a century ago.

  11. Astronomy

    Pluto’s demotion ignores astronomical history

    A historical review of asteroids’ planetary status suggests Pluto’s demotion was not justified.

  12. Science & Society

    In honor of his centennial, the Top 10 Feynman quotations

    Nobel laureate Richard Feynman left many quotable observations on science and life.