Books

 

1. Plurality of Worlds:  The Origins of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate from Democritus to Kant (Cambridge University Press, 1982; paperback edition, 1984; French translation La Pluralite des mondes , 1989).


Reviewed in Isis, 74, no. 272 (1983), 268-70; American Historical Review (June, 1983), 647-48; Sky and Telescope (February, 1983), 139-40; Journal for the History of Astronomy, 14 (February, 1983); The Times Higher Education Supplement (July 16, 1982), and twelve other journals. 


2. Editor (with Leroy Doggett), Sky with Ocean Joined:  Proceedings of the Sesquicentennial Symposia of the U. S. Naval Observatory, December 5 and 8, 1980    (U. S. Naval Observatory, 1983).


3. The Biological Universe: The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate and the Limits of Science (Cambridge University Press, May, 1996).  Paper edition, Nov. 1999. Main Selection, Astronomy Book Club.  Named by Britannica as one of the select books in 1996 making a significant contribution to knowledge in its field.  Reviewed in Nature, 385 (1997), 592-93; Science, vol. 275, 21 March, 1997, 1748-49; Journal for History of Astronomy, 29 (1998), 88; Sky and Telescope (June, 1997), 62-63; Journal of British Astronomical Association 107 (1997), 96; The Observatory, 117 (1997), 102; Icarus, 127 (1997), 263; Irish Astronomical Journal, 24 (1997), 86; Mercury, 26 (1997), 32; New Scientist (14 Sept 1996), 43; and others.



4. Life on Other Worlds  The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate (abridgement and update of The Biological Universe), Cambridge University Press, 1998.  Translations in Chinese, Italian, Polish, Czech and Greek.  Reviewed in Astronomy and Geophysics (1999), 40; Journal for the History of Astronomy, 30 (1999), 409; Sky and Telescope (1999); etc.


5. Editor (with Dennis McCarthy), Polar Motion:  Historical and Scientific Problems, IAU Colloquium 178 (Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2000)


6. Editor (with Alan Fiala), Proceedings of the Sesquicentennial Symposium of the American Nautical Almanac Office (U. S. Naval Observatory, 1999)


7.  Editor, Many Worlds: The New Universe, Extraterrestrial Life and the Theological Implications (Templeton Press, 2000)


8. Sky and Ocean Joined:  The U. S. Naval Observatory, 1830-2000 (Cambridge University Press, 2003).  Reviewed in Technology and Culture [Robert Smith] January, 2005, 240-241, etc.  Winner of the 2004 Pendelton Prize of the Society for History in the Federal Government, and the 2002 John Lyman Award of the North American Society for Oceanic History.  “A superlative piece of historical research … a volume that should be taken as both a model and an inspiration to all who follow.”  The Antiquarian Astronomer, December, 2005.          


  1. 9.(with James Strick), The Living Universe:  NASA and the Development of Astrobiology (Rutgers U. Press, 2004)

  2. 10. Editor (with Keith Cowing), Risk and Exploration:  Earth, Sea and Stars (NASA SP-2005-4701 (Washington, D.C., 2005)       

      FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4701/riskandexploration.pdf


  1. 11. Editor (with Roger Launius), Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight
          (NASA SP   4702 (Washington, D.C., 2006).

       FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/SP-2006-4702/frontmatter.pdf

12.   Editor (with Roger Launius), Societal Impact of Spaceflight (NASA SP 4801

        (Washington, D.C.,  2007) 

       FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/sp4801-part1.pdf and

                                 http://history.nasa.gov/sp4801-part2.pdf


  1. 13. Editor (with Neil Armstrong et al.), America in Space: NASA’s First Fifty Years, (Abrams: New York, 2007). 

  2. 14. Editor, Remembering the Space Age (NASA SP- 2008-4703)  

      FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/Remembering_Space_Age_A.pdf

                                http://history.nasa.gov/Remembering_Space_Age_B.pdf

                                http://history.nasa.gov/Remembering_Space_Age_C.pdf


15. Editor (with Mark Lupisella), Cosmos and Culture: Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context (NASA SP 2009-4802).  FULL TEXT at    http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4802.pdf


16. Editor, NASA’s First 50 Years:  Historical Perspectives (NASA SP 2010-4704).


17. Editor, Historical Studies in the Societal Impact of Spaceflight (NASA SP, forthcoming, 2014)


18. Editor (with Rebecca Wright and Sandra Johnson), NASA at 50:  Interviews with NASA Senior Leadership (NASA SP-2012-4114)


19. Discovery and Classification in Astronomy: Controversy and Consensus (Cambridge University Press, 2013)