Trudy E. Bell, M.A.
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Craig B. Waff, Ph.D., 1946-2012
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Science Writer
Articles - Science, Engineering, History, Travel

If a print magazine or newspaper has also published an article online, I have included a link directly to the PDF or HTML (about two-thirds of the articles). Roll your mouse over the thumbnails of the print magazine or newspaper pages; those with links should turn your cursor into a hand. Depending on your browser, the article pages with links may also appear outlined in color.

To editors: If you wish to read an article not available online, please contact me directly to request a copy. I can also supply a more complete list of my publications, including lists broken down by topic (astronomy and astrophysics, weather and climate, engineering and technology, history of astronomy, bicycling and adventure travel, or the 1913 flood).

Note: In Microsoft Internet Explorer, you will also see a few details about each article - such as magazine and publication date - if you run your mouse over the page; other browsers, such as Safari and Firefox, may not reveal the hidden text or color outlines, but should still change your cursor to a hand on any page with a link so you can click through to the article online.
Any questions, of course, please contact me.

Latest article and link added February 21, 2013 ("Target Earth: Detecting and Avoiding Killer Asteroids," The Bent, Winter 2013 and "Computational Astronomy Boot Camp," ScienceWriters Winter 2012-2013)

Popular articles about cutting-edge science and technology:



cover feature "Target Earth: Detecting and Avoiding Killer Asteroids," The Bent, Winter 2013, pp 12-16          feature in the Winter 2012-2013 issue of ScienceWriters, quarterly magazine of the National Association of Science Writers, about the UC-HiPACC journalism boot camp I conceived and ran in June 2012          article title is actually "Universe on Fast Forward," on the Bolshoi cosmological simulation, and how supercomputer modeling is transforming cosmology from an observational science into an experimental science, Sky & Telescope July 2012          feature article "Engineering the Heavens" in the Summer 2012 issue of The Bent, on how pre-photographic astronomers first measured the distances to stars using their eyeballs, thanks to superb engineering by astronomical instrument-makers          A tidal wave of digital information is breaking over scientists and engineers and transforming scientific research and archival storage - read more in "Deluged by a Data Tsunami" in the Winter 2012 issue of The Bent of Tau Beta Pi.           Cover story spring/summer 2011 "Aggressive Engineering for Passive Houses," on how 25,000 passive houses built in Europe over the past two decades have slashed energy consumption by 90 percent.  



Air & Space Smithsonian Jan2011 - aeronautical engineering backstory how a 747SP was heavily modified to carry the world's largest telescope for NASA's SOFIA           SOFIA Flies to the Stars, The Bent of Tau Beta Pi, Fall 2010 - engineering backstory on designing a 106-inch telescope to fly on a jumbo jet, including removing 80+ percent of its mass          Nature March 7 2008 - about NASA's LISA spacecraft intended to detect gravitational waves           Air & Space Smithsonian Sept 2005 - search for gravitational waves with ALLEGRO and LIGO       Testing Einstein - Engineering Gutsy Science on a Shoestring, Summer 2005 - dramatic engineering adventure of building LIGO beam tube     These two articles in Air & Space and The Bent won the 2006 David N. Schramm Award of the American Astronomical Society



Engineering Beyond CO2, The Bent Spring 2007 - a literature review about engineering alternatives             Air & Space Smithsonian Aur-Sept 2006 - on the monumental challenges of engineering around lunar and Martian dust           McKinsey & Co.'s magazine Month by Month, Sept-Oct 1997 - wrote cover story "Outward Bound for Operations" about the new Operational Effectiveness Practice; ended up being used as a recruiting document for McKinsey's OE Practice           Electronics and the Stars, IEEE Spectrum Aug 1995 - real-time astronomical instrumentation and adaptive optics           Engineering Layoffs, Facts and Myths, IEEE Spectrum Nov 1994 - one of a series of half a dozen major special reports about international trends in engineering employment




Profiles of individuals:

profile of Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College; first in a series of Profiles in Leadership for The Bent of TBP (Fall 2012)      profile of anthropologist Janet McGrath, Center for Social Science Study of AIDS (in Uganda) for the Fall/Winter 2011 issue of the Case Western alumni magazine artsci      Case Western Reserve University alumni magazine art/sci srping/summer 2011 - wrote cover story profile of Ralph P. Harvey, head of the Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET)      artsci Winter 2010 - Case Western Reserve U's alumni magazine - profile of two Case astronomers and their fascinating research on stars stranded between galaxies, both around the Milky Way and in the Virgo cluster      American Archaeology Winter 2006-2007 - profile of David Bush and his dig of the Civil War prisoner of war camp for Confederate officers on Johnson Island in Ohio  


Astronomy March 2004 - profile of David W. Dunham, pioneer in calculating and observing lunar and asteroidal occultations      profile of 80-year-old world touring cyclist who had pedaled the distance from earth to moon, published in Adventure Cyclist, August 2003

also profiled Andrew Viterbi, the late Harold E. "Doc" Edgerton, Alfred Yi Cho, Walter Haas, Ernst Weber, and others



Weather, atmospheric phenomena, and eyeball astronomy:

Night Sky Jan-Feb 2005 - feature on thrilling meteorological optical phenomena in the daytime sky - features a few of my photographs          Struck by Lightning, The Bent of Tau Beta Pi Winter 2005 - physics and probability of lightning strikes, inspired after lightning struck my own house in Aug 2003 - includes some of my photos           article on atmospheric optics published in a bicycling magazine! in the League of American Bicyclists Magazine for summer 2001          article for kids "I Was a Teenaged Eclipse Chaser" about my first total solar eclipse seen at age 19, for Smithsonian/Cricket kids' magazine Muse, January 1999           article about Perseid meteor shower, star parties, and summer astronomical marvels for bicyclists planning their summer trips, published in Adventure Cyclist, March 1997

also wrote lengthy (5,600 words) encyclopedia entry "Atmospheric Optics" for Encyclopedia Americana, 2005



Travel, bicycling, adventure, nature:


Sunday Travel cover feature on Louisville, The Plain Dealer, March 2011           Plain Dealer Sunday Travel March 7 2010 - Miracles in Death Valley - front page travel story featuring my photographs                 The Plain Dealer Sunday Travel July 25 2010 - front page story on bicycling the C&O Canal towpath, featuring my photographs             Concrete Canvases Ohio magazine April 2010 - about amazing murals painted on floodwalls along the Ohio River                Vintage Stargazing, Ohio magazine Sept 2007 - about the 19thC astronomical observatories and telescopes around the state of Ohio open to the public             



Adventure Cyclist Nov-Dec 2003 - about my 7-week 4-state bicycle camping adventure with my 9-yr-old daughter




History of astronomy, both popular and academic, from original archival research (I've been continuing research in 19th-century U.S. astronomy since college and graduate school):


Article "Restoration of the Great Melbourne Telescope" (including photos from my visit to Museum Victoria in Australia) in Autumn 2012 issue of Society for the History of Astronomy Bulletin           Review of book The Great Melbourne Telescope by Richard Gillespie, in Autumn 2012 issue of Society for the History of Astronomy Bulletin          Feature article in Sky & Telescope, June 2011, on how vying for the world's largest telescope was a cultural movement, not just an astronomical one           Value of Vintage Observatories and Historic Telescopes in Communicating Astronomy with the Public, CAPjournal, October 2010 - published by the International Astronomical Union - summary of 2008 Antique Telescope Society's thematic workshop               Forgotten Artist of Optics, Sky & Telescope, Sept 2007 - Letters hidden in a box for decades reveal that this obscure architect and commercial artist was also one of the 20th century's most gifted optical designers                 edited the special double issue of the Journal of the Antique Telescope Society, Summer-Fall 2006, on the shadowy early pre-1860 career of 19thC optical giant Alvan Clark             Money and Glory, The Bent of Tau Beta Pi, Winter 2006 - Warner and Swasey got their 19thC start designing the world's largest telescope                Rejuvenating Our Past: The Antique Telescope Society, Sky & Telescope, Sept 2002 - history of the ATS and its contributions to preservation its first 10 years







 

Journalist, Editor, Photographer

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