Timothy Ferris

Timothy Ferris
Ferris in 2009
Born	(1944-08-24) August 24, 1944
Nationality	American
Education	Coral Gables High School
Alma mater	Northwestern University School of Law
Awards	Klumpke-Roberts Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1986) American Institute of Physics science-writing medal (× 2) American Association for the Advancement of Science writing prize
Scientific career
Fields	Astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, astrobiology, space science, planetary science
Website	www.timothyferris.com

Timothy Ferris (born August 29, 1944) is an American science writer and the best-selling author of twelve books, including The Science of Liberty (2010) and Coming of Age in the Milky Way (1988), for which he was awarded the American Institute of Physics Prize and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He also wrote The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report (1997), a popular science book on the study of the universe.

Background and education

Ferris is a native of Miami, Florida, and a graduate of Coral Gables High School. He attended Northwestern University, graduating in 1966 with majors in English and communications. He studied for one year at the Northwestern University Law School before joining United Press International as a reporter, working in New York City.

Writing and NASA

After starting his career as a newspaper reporter, Ferris became an editor at Rolling Stone, where he initially specialized in science journalism. As an editor of Rolling Stone magazine, Ferris published over 200 articles and essays in The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Forbes, Harper’s, Scientific American, Vanity Fair, The Nation, The New Republic, The New York Review of Books, and other periodicals.

Ferris produced the Voyager Golden Record, an artifact of human civilization containing music, sounds of Earth and encoded photographs launched aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft. He has served as a consultant to NASA on long-term space exploration policy, and was among the journalists selected as candidates to fly aboard the Space Shuttle in 1986. He was also a friend of and collaborator with American astronomer Carl Sagan.

The Voyagers’ scientific mission was set to end when their plutonium-238 thermoelectric power generators failed, around the year 2030. 

Honors

Ferris is a Guggenheim fellow and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He won the Klumpke-Roberts Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1986, and has twice won the American Institute of Physics science-writing medal and the American Association for the Advancement of Science writing prize.

Academe

Ferris has taught astronomy, English, history, journalism, and philosophy at four universities; he is currently an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Quotations

• "In diversity there is strength."
• "If you have to make a decision, you've already made a mistake."
• "It takes all kinds to make an individual."
• "Art in its uniqueness rescues each culture from the strictures of mere progress." (1992 Nobel Conference address)
• "The truth is quite slippery enough; it requires no spin, polish, or lubrication."
• "All fiction aspires to the condition of nonfiction."
• "A lot of what I do consists of pointing out that there is more to the world than this world, and more to this world than we know. This idea got hold of me years ago, and never let go. It is my author." (Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Vol. 30.)
• "The mind is eternally presented with a choice between learning and reassurance."
• "Technological advances are like planets: The bigger their bright side, the bigger their dark side."
• "Each bright day is snatched from darkness."
• "Time parts us: As the tree grows, its branches diverge."
• "Stand under the stars and say what you like to them. Praise or blame them, question them, pray to them, wish upon them. The universe will not answer. But it will have spoken." (Galaxies, Introduction)
• "To profess, or to exemplify? That is the question."
• "Never stop learning. Cherish your ignorance. Look on the world with reverence. Eschew piety. Do no wanton harm. Fear not. Spread cheer." (Reply to a 1987 questionnaire asking for a "summary of your beliefs or credo.")

Books

• Timothy Ferris (2010). The Science of Liberty: Democracy, Reason, and the Laws of Nature. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-078150-7.
• Timothy Ferris (2002). Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep into the Universe and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-86579-3.
• Timothy Ferris, ed. (2001). Best American Science Writing 2001. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-093648-7.
• Timothy Ferris (2001). Life Beyond Earth. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-84937-9.
• Timothy Ferris (1997). The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-83861-8.
• Timothy Ferris (1993). The Universe & Eye. Ingram Pinn (illust.). Pavilion Books. ISBN 978-0-517-15572-1.
• Timothy Ferris (1992). The Mind's Sky: Human Intelligence in a Cosmic Context. Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-37133-8.
• World Treasury of Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics. Little Brown. 1991. ISBN 978-0-316-28129-4. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)
• Timothy Ferris (1988). Coming of Age in the Milky Way. William Morrow & Co. ISBN 978-0-688-05889-0.
• Bruce Porter; Timothy Ferris (1988). The Practice of Journalism. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-693706-7.
• Timothy Ferris (1984). SpaceShots. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-53890-0.
• Timothy Ferris (1980). Galaxies. Sierra Club Books. ISBN 978-0-87156-273-9.
• Carl Sagan; Frank D. Drake; Ann Druyan; Timothy Ferris; Jon Lomberg; Linda Salzman Sagan (1978). Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record. Random House. ISBN 978-0-345-31536-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |last-author-amp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
• Timothy Ferris (1977). The Red Limit: The Search for the Edge of the Universe. William Morrow & Co. ISBN 978-0-688-03176-3.

Articles and essays

Ferris has published more than 200 articles and essays, including forwards to other authors' books and memoirs.

Films

• Producer, narrator, and writer, Seeing in the Dark, sixty-minute documentary film, PBS premier September 19, 2007; DVD and BR-DVD releases, PBS Home Video, 2008.
• Author and narrator, Life Beyond Earth, two-hour PBS television special, world premier November 10, 1999; DVD release, PBS Home Video, 2000.
• Author and narrator, The Creation of the Universe, ninety-minute television science special; U.S. premier, PBS network, November 20, 1985; also broadcast in the United Kingdom, Japan, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Venezuela, and Brazil. Inaugural release, PBS Home Video, 1991; laserdisc release, Pacific Arts Video, 1992; CD-ROM release, The Voyager Company, 1993; DVD release, PBS Home Video, 2005.
• Writer and narrator, segments on The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, PBS television: "Exploding Stars and the Origins of Human Civilization", October 21, 1993; "Pipe Organs and Particle Accelerators", June 8, 1993; "Columbus Day," October 7, 1992; and "The Voyager Encounter With Neptune," August 22, 1989.

External links

• Official website
• Timothy Ferris at IMDb
• "Voyagers' Records Wait for Alien Ears". Weekend Edition. Interveiw. NPR. August 19, 2007. 12892280.