Website under (re)construction from August 2023. Some segments may not build out for months.
—> Formatted for desktop screens; server scrambles segments for mobile devices. <—
Not for “tl;dr” simpletons. This website rewards time and thought. Suckers seeking instant oversimplifications, scarcely skimming the surface, should retreat back to the rest of the Internet.
No “artificial intelligence” hallucinations here — everything is by and for real humans.
Email: normsperling@gmail.com
Postal: 2625 Alcatraz Avenue #235, Berkeley, California 94705 USA.
- — < ◊ > — -
HI! I’M NORM SPERLING.
Nobody thinks the way I do, so none of my projects is just a “me too” version of anyone else’s.
When I was 9, in 1956, I discovered how awesome and beautiful the rest of the Universe is. Astronomy has been my hobby, and profession, ever since.
ALONG THE WAY, I:
Invent devices and projects that make people feel good, with science that is determinedly correct, clear, and sharp. Astronomical projects bring people closer to the stars. Science projects bring people closer to science and nature. Smarts and smiles!
Earned a Master’s degree in History of Science and Technology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Taught 7 different courses to nearly 4,000 students in 11 universities and colleges.
Was Assistant Editor of Sky & Telescope, astronomy’s magazine of record.
Was Science Editor of AltaVista.com .
Was a planetarium director, and performed >3,000 live shows.
Have spoken to hundreds of conventions and club meetings. I routinely encounter people who remember points I made decades before.
Testify as an expert witness in court.
Make mistakes, and learn from them. As I’ve gotten a lot older, I’ve gotten a little wiser and nicer.
I HAD MAJOR INFLUENCE ON:
The Edmund Astroscan, the beginner’s “instant telescope”. I designed its user-friendly behavior and wow-power richfield optics, the opposite of dim-view, slow-setup scopes that kill interest. It’s hard to make things easy. They sold 90,000 scopes over 37 years till the mold broke. Fans still ask me to autograph theirs.
Astronomy Day: No one else noticed what a couple local blips should blossom into. No one else would make that happen. Crafting articles for Sky & Telescope, I encouraged clubs to join the fun. I wrote lots of letters, and (to S&T’s arched eyebrows) *phoned long distance* to hold decision-makers’ attention. My recommended observances remain the core of the Astronomy Day manual.
Sustaining The Journal of Irreproducible Results, the science humor magazine, as owner, editor, publisher, layout, proofreader, janitor … . JIR is a treasured institution of Science.
Unifying stars with the solar system’s assorted bodies in the graph and poster All Cosmic Bodies, From Meteorites to Stars, are Actually Cousins. Here, too, it’s hard to make things easy. Free single page; enriched poster 978-0913399-42-2.
Touch Deep Time: I’m collecting the first Geological Column of rocks formed during every epoch in Earth’s History.
The International Planetarium Society: secretary at the founding convention, created the planetarium directory, planned and named The Planetarian.
I CONTRIBUTED SIGNIFICANTLY TO:
Solar Eclipses: “Sperling’s 8-Second Law” (Astronomy, August 1980) remains the most-quoted article on how beginners should experience them.
Dobsonian Telescopes: I edited John Dobson’s carton of oddments into a coherent book, How and Why To Make a User-Friendly Sidewalk Telescope, binding it catchily in his favorite material, plywood. No other publisher would deal with such a difficult author. No other editor would make sense of such a disordered carton. Used copies sell for >15 times original retail.
Student Projects: The youngest person to have a project fly in space was my student, Alison Hopfield, 14, SkyLab Student Project ED-21. (Her father won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2024.)
Fighting Light Pollution: pushing early articles in several magazines, writing Light Pollution’s history. But we’re still losing.
Fighting Pseudoscience: 24 years on the Bay Area Skeptics board, mostly as Vice-Chair.
As others see me: en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Sperling .
