Steve Mirsky

Last updated
Steve Mirsky
Steve Mirsky.jpg
Mirsky in 2013
Alma mater Cornell University
OccupationJournalist

Steve Mirsky is an American journalist. He is a writer for Scientific American , the host of the magazine's longform science podcast, Science Talk. [1] and the producer of the daily 60-Second Science podcast. Mirsky has also written Scientific American's monthly "Anti Gravity" column since 1995 until December 8, 2020. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Education

Mirsky obtained his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Lehman College of the City University of New York [2] and in 1985, [5] obtained his master's degree in chemistry from Cornell University. [6]

Career

Prior to studying chemistry in college, Mirsky explored acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and spent the summer of 1978 with an acting company performing at the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. [7]

While attending Cornell University, Mirsky received a Mass Media Fellowship through the American Association for the Advancement of Science and received a science journalist assignment for one summer at a TV station, WSVN-TV, in Miami, FL. [2] [6] After graduating from Cornell University, Mirsky was hired [2] at WSVN-TV and then, continuing his work in the broadcast industry, Mirsky moved to radio for a year as a morning host for WMCR in Oneida, NY. [6] After WMCR, Mirsky worked for five years at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine covering basic research for its publications and then became a freelance science writer for a variety of magazines. [6]

Mirsky began writing Scientific American's monthly "Anti Gravity" column in 1994 as a freelancer and joined Scientific American's staff in 1997. [2] He is now a senior editor at Scientific American and continues to write the "Anti Gravity" column. [8] In addition, since 2006, he has hosted Scientific American's weekly Science Talk podcast and contributed to the magazine's daily 60-Second Science podcast. [2] [3] [9]

Works

Mirsky is most known for writing Scientific American's long-running monthly "Anti Gravity" column and hosting Scientific American's weekly Science Talk podcast. [2] [4] He is the author of Anti Gravity: Allegedly Humorous Writing from Scientific American (2007), an anthology of his early "Anti Gravity" columns. [10]

His earlier freelance articles appeared in magazines such as Astronomy , [11] [12] Audubon , [11] [12] [6] Men's Fitness , [11] National Wildlife , [11] [12] [6] Newsday, [12] Technology Review , [12] [13] and Wildlife Conservation. [11] [6] His broadcast credits include National Public Radio, the Medical News Network, and CBS News Overnight. [6]

Awards and honors

Mirsky was awarded:

Mirsky was named a Science Writer in Residence for the University of Wisconsin–Madison for the autumn of 2007 [12] and his work on Scientific American's two podcasts has been recognized with Webby Awards in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. [20]

Bibliography

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Scientific American</i> American monthly science magazine

Scientific American, informally abbreviated SciAm or sometimes SA, is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Prize-winners being featured since its inception.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine Biological Laboratory</span> Research institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, United States

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent for most of its history, but became officially affiliated with the University of Chicago on July 1, 2013. It also collaborates with numerous other institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehman College</span> Public college in the Bronx, New York

Lehman College is a public college in New York City. Founded in 1931 as the Bronx campus of Hunter College, it became an independent college in 1967. The college is named after Herbert H. Lehman, a former New York governor, United States senator, and philanthropist. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY) and offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate degree programs and specializations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Sailer</span> American political writer

Steven Ernest Sailer is an American far-right writer and blogger. He is currently a columnist for Taki's Magazine and VDARE, a website associated with white supremacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office of Naval Research</span> Office within the United States Department of the Navy

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan, foster, and encourage scientific research to maintain future naval power and preserve national security. It carries this out through funding and collaboration with schools, universities, government laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit organizations, and overseeing the Naval Research Laboratory, the corporate research laboratory for the Navy and Marine Corps. NRL conducts a broad program of scientific research, technology and advanced development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah Blum</span> American journalist (born 1954)

Deborah Leigh Blum is an American science journalist and the director of the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the author of several books, including The Poisoner's Handbook (2010) and The Poison Squad (2018), and has been a columnist for The New York Times and a blogger, via her blog titled Elemental, for Wired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annalee Newitz</span> American journalist, editor, and author of both fiction and nonfiction

Annalee Newitz is an American journalist, editor, and author of both fiction and nonfiction. From 1999 to 2008, Newitz wrote a syndicated weekly column called Techsploitation, and from 2000 to 2004 was the culture editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian. In 2004, Newitz became a policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. With Charlie Jane Anders, they also co-founded Other magazine, a periodical that ran from 2002 to 2007. From 2008 to 2015, Newitz was editor-in-chief of Gawker-owned media venture io9, and subsequently its direct descendant Gizmodo, Gawker's design and technology blog. They have written for the periodicals Popular Science, Film Quarterly and Wired. As of 2019, Newitz is a contributing opinion writer at The New York Times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Zimmer</span> Science writer and blogger

Carl Zimmer is a popular science writer, blogger, columnist, and journalist who specializes in the topics of evolution, parasites, and heredity. The author of many books, he contributes science essays to publications such as The New York Times, Discover, and National Geographic. He is a fellow at Yale University's Morse College and adjunct professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University. Zimmer also gives frequent lectures and has appeared on many radio shows, including National Public Radio's Radiolab, Fresh Air, and This American Life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science journalism</span> Journalism genre

Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists and the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Mooney (journalist)</span> American journalist and author

Christopher Cole Mooney is an American journalist and author of four books including The Republican War on Science (2005). Mooney's writing focuses on subjects such as climate change denialism and creationism in public schools, and he has been described as "one of the few journalists in the country who specialize in the now dangerous intersection of science and politics." In 2020 he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles on global warming published in The Washington Post.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Rennie (editor)</span> American science writer (born 1959)

John Rennie is an American science writer who was the seventh editor in chief of Scientific American magazine. After leaving Scientific American in 2009, he began writing for Public Library of Science (PLoS) Blogs. Rennie has also been involved with several television programs and podcasts as well as multiple writing projects, including his latest position as a deputy editor on the staff of Quanta Magazine.

<i>Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed</i> 2008 American documentary-style propaganda film

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a 2008 American documentary-style propaganda film directed by Nathan Frankowski and starring Ben Stein. The film contends that there is a conspiracy in academia to oppress and exclude people who believe in intelligent design. It portrays the scientific theory of evolution as a contributor to communism, fascism, atheism, eugenics, and in particular Nazi atrocities in the Holocaust. Although intelligent design is a pseudoscientific religious idea, the film presents it as science-based, without giving a detailed definition of the concept or attempting to explain it on a scientific level. Other than briefly addressing issues of irreducible complexity, Expelled examines intelligent design purely as a political issue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Zimmer</span> American linguist and lexicographer (born 1971)

Benjamin Zimmer is an American linguist, lexicographer, and language commentator. He is a language columnist for The Wall Street Journal and contributing editor for The Atlantic. He was formerly a language columnist for The Boston Globe and The New York Times Magazine, and editor of American dictionaries at Oxford University Press. Zimmer was also an executive editor of Vocabulary.com and VisualThesaurus.com.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewel Plummer Cobb</span> American biologist

Jewel Plummer Cobb was an American biologist, cancer researcher, professor, dean, and academic administrator. She contributed to the field of cancer research by studying the cure for melanoma. Cobb was an advocate for increasing the representation of women and students of color in universities, and she created programs to support students interested in pursuing graduate school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shankar Vedantam</span> American journalist, writer, and science correspondent

Shankar Vedantam is an American journalist, writer, and science correspondent. His reporting focuses on human behavior and the social sciences. He is best known for his Hidden Brain family of products: book, podcast, and radio program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethany Brookshire</span> American science journalist

Bethany Brookshire is an American science journalist. She writes for Science News for Students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Gruber</span> American marine biologist

David Gruber is an American marine biologist, a Presidential Professor of Biology and Environmental Sciences at Baruch College, City University of New York, and a National Geographic Explorer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christie Aschwanden</span> American journalist

Christie Aschwanden is an American journalist and the former lead science writer at FiveThirtyEight. Her 2019 book GOOD TO GO: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn From the Strange Science of Recovery, was a New York Times bestseller. She was awarded an American Association for the Advancement of Science Kavli Science Journalism Award in 2016 and serves on the board of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.

The Open Notebook(TON) is a science journalism non-profit organization, online magazine, and publisher. Its purpose is to help science journalists improve their skills. It publishes articles and interviews on the craft of science writing and maintains a database of successful pitch letters to editors. TON also runs a paid fellowship program for early-career science journalists. The Open Notebook is supported by foundation grants and individual donations, and also partners with journalism and science communication organizations.

Richard Panek is an American popular science writer, columnist, and journalist who specializes in the topics of space, the universe, and gravity. He has published several books and has written articles for a number of news outlets and scientific organizations, including Scientific American, WIRED, New Scientist, and Discover.

References

  1. "Podcasts". Scientific American. Nature America, Inc. Archived from the original on 11 January 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Interview with Steve Mirsky". HowDidYouGetThere. 14 March 2015. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Podcasts". Scientific American. Nature America, Inc. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  4. 1 2 Mirsky, Steve (February 2018). "Anti Gravity: The Ongoing Search for Fundamental Farces". Scientific American. Vol. 318, no. 2. New York, N.Y.: Nature America, Inc. p. 68.
  5. "Steve Mirsky (as displayed to 3rd-level connection)". LinkedIn. LinkedIn Corporation. Archived from the original on 20 April 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Scientific American Editor and Columnist to Keynote Lehman's Convocation September 16". Lehman College, City University of New York (CUNY). The City University of New York (CUNY). 3 September 2009. Archived from the original on 2018-01-16. Retrieved 16 Jan 2018.
  7. "SGU Episode 48". SGU (Skeptics Guide to the Universe) Transcripts. 21 June 2006. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  8. "(Masthead)". Scientific American. Vol. 318, no. 2. New York, N.Y.: Nature America, Inc. February 2018. p. 5.
  9. "60-Second Science". Scientific American. Nature America, Inc. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  10. Mirsky, Steve (2007). Anti Gravity: Allegedly Humorous Writing from Scientific American. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press. ISBN   978-1-59921-115-2.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Mirsky, Steve (2007). Anti Gravity: Allegedly Humorous Writing from Scientific American. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press. p. Back Cover. ISBN   978-1-59921-115-2.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Devitt, Terry (24 September 2007). "Scientific American columnist to be writer in residence". University of Wisconsin-Madison. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  13. "Steve Mirsky Stories". MIT Technology Review. Technology Review, Inc. Archived from the original on 18 January 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  14. "Science Journalism Fellows, 1990-1999". Marine Biological Laboratory. The Marine Biological Laboratory. Archived from the original on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  15. "Science Journalism Fellows, 2000-2009". Marine Biological Laboratory. The Marine Biological Laboratory. Archived from the original on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  16. "People". Columbia University. 18 April 1997. Archived from the original on 15 December 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  17. Mirsky, Steve. "Re-emerging diseases: gone today, here tomorrow?". The World of Research at Columbia University. Columbia University. Archived from the original on 20 June 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  18. "Thomson Reuters Foundation Fellowship: Inviting Experienced Journalists throughout the World". Funds for NGOs. Funds for NGOs, LLC. 5 December 2016. Archived from the original on 6 December 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  19. "Knight science journalism fellows named". UPI. United Press International, Inc. 28 April 2003. Archived from the original on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  20. "Scientific American (Search Results)". The Webby Awards. Archived from the original on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  21. Online version is titled "Scientists are trying to get supermarket tomatoes’ flavor to catch up".
  22. Online version is titled "Our health depends on our homes and work spaces".