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In 1987, Ashcraft moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to pursue an art, sculpture, and independent science practice.
In 1987, Ashcraft moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to pursue an art, sculpture, and independent science practice.


In 1992, he manifested the Radio Fireball Observatory<ref>https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/artist-turned-astronomer-tracks-the-galaxy-s-glowing-traveling-orbs/article_a17666f9-a0f2-5679-97a0-07dde7ae00ed.html</ref> for monitoring and recording fireballs, space dust, and meteoric phenomena. He has made numerous innovations in the merging of optical and radio telescope technology.<ref>https://gizmodo.com/how-a-mysterious-sky-phenomenon-was-explained-by-high-s-880432593</ref> In 2001, he began observing Jupiter, the sun, and ionospheric phenomena with NASA’s Radio Jove Project.<ref>https://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/newsletters/2002Oct/index.html</ref>
In 1992, he built the Radio Fireball Observatory<ref>https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/artist-turned-astronomer-tracks-the-galaxy-s-glowing-traveling-orbs/article_a17666f9-a0f2-5679-97a0-07dde7ae00ed.html</ref> for monitoring and recording fireballs, space dust, and meteoric phenomena. He has made numerous innovations in the merging of optical and radio telescope technology.<ref>https://gizmodo.com/how-a-mysterious-sky-phenomenon-was-explained-by-high-s-880432593</ref> In 2001, he began observing Jupiter, the sun, and ionospheric phenomena with NASA’s Radio Jove Project.<ref>https://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/newsletters/2002Oct/index.html</ref>


In 2009, Ashcraft began noting lightning-generated phenomena called transient luminous events ([[red sprites]])<ref>https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210104.html</ref> on his radio-optical telescope systems. Over time he has established a multi-faceted observatory devoted to the capture and study of this rarely imaged phenomenon.<ref>https://www.wired.com/2013/07/transient-luminous-events/?viewall=true</ref>
In 2009, Ashcraft began noting lightning-generated phenomena called transient luminous events ([[red sprites]])<ref>https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210104.html</ref> on his radio-optical telescope systems. Over time he has established a multi-faceted observatory devoted to the capture and study of this rarely imaged phenomenon.<ref>https://www.wired.com/2013/07/transient-luminous-events/?viewall=true</ref>

Revision as of 16:32, 2 March 2022


Thomas Ashcraft (born 1951) is an American scientist, naturalist, scientific instrument-maker, and artist.[1] He is known for his observations of transient luminous events (lightning sprites),[2] meteoric fireballs,[3] solar radio and optical phenomena,[4] and Jupiter radio emissions.[5]

He is currently artist and citizen scientist in residence at the Santa Fe Institute.[6] He resides and maintains a laboratory and studio outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico where he operates the Observatory of Heliotown.[7]

Biography

Thomas Ashcraft was born in Springfield, Illinois in 1951.

Ashcraft studied natural philosophy at McGill University in Montreal from 1972 through 1975. After college, he moved to the Arkansas Ozarks and became an artisan building custom tools for artists in the form of weaving looms and quilting frames.

In the early 1980s, Ashcraft was an initiator of the OAK Currency Project which was an Ozark-wide bioregional economic experiment.[8]

In 1987, Ashcraft moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to pursue an art, sculpture, and independent science practice.

In 1992, he built the Radio Fireball Observatory[9] for monitoring and recording fireballs, space dust, and meteoric phenomena. He has made numerous innovations in the merging of optical and radio telescope technology.[10] In 2001, he began observing Jupiter, the sun, and ionospheric phenomena with NASA’s Radio Jove Project.[11]

In 2009, Ashcraft began noting lightning-generated phenomena called transient luminous events (red sprites)[12] on his radio-optical telescope systems. Over time he has established a multi-faceted observatory devoted to the capture and study of this rarely imaged phenomenon.[13]

Art practice

Ashcraft is primarily a sculptor and installation artist incorporating space, time, mind, sound, and electricity.[14] He is also a figurative sculptor exploring biological subjects such bacteriophages, viruses, microbes, and medicinal plants.[15] He was awarded a Louis Comfort Tiffany Prize [16] in art in 2005.



References

  1. ^ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/488/thomas-ashcraft/
  2. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/science/on-the-hunt-for-a-sprite-on-a-midsummers-night.html?_r=0
  3. ^ https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210315.html
  4. ^ https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123694113?storyId=123694113
  5. ^ https://agu2020fallmeeting-agu.ipostersessions.com/?s=32-A3-44-20-C9-2D-4A-0C-32-1B-BF-24-44-37-32-C3
  6. ^ https://www.santafe.edu/culture/heliotown-ii
  7. ^ https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/citizen-scientist-driven-by-the-need-to-discover/article_ef9e2a1c-07eb-11eb-895e-532df1d8b495.html
  8. ^ https://centerforneweconomics.org/newsletters/bioregionalism-tribal-sovereignty-and-regional-banking/
  9. ^ https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/artist-turned-astronomer-tracks-the-galaxy-s-glowing-traveling-orbs/article_a17666f9-a0f2-5679-97a0-07dde7ae00ed.html
  10. ^ https://gizmodo.com/how-a-mysterious-sky-phenomenon-was-explained-by-high-s-880432593
  11. ^ https://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/newsletters/2002Oct/index.html
  12. ^ https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210104.html
  13. ^ https://www.wired.com/2013/07/transient-luminous-events/?viewall=true
  14. ^ http://digicult.it/digimag/issue-070/explorations-of-the-invisibles-freedom-power-in-the-electromagnetic/
  15. ^ https://improvisedlife.com/2020/03/05/thomas-ashcrafts-hopeful-reminder-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/
  16. ^ https://www.louiscomforttiffanyfoundation.org/2005/thomas-ashcraft
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