Dr. Phil Plait

For as long as he can remember, Phil Plait has been in love with science. “When I was maybe four or five years old, my dad brought home a cheapo department store telescope. He aimed it at Saturn that night. One look, and that was it. I was hooked,” he says. Dr. Plait has given public talks about astronomy and science education at educational institutions of all levels and community events throughout the US. Plait, known as the ‘Bad Astronomer’ online because of his penchant for calling out misinformation, earned his doctorate in astronomy at the University of Virginia, and worked on the Hubble Space Telescope as a NASA contractor at the Goddard Space Flight Center. He is the author of the books ‘Bad Astronomy’ and ‘Death From The Skies’, and writes the thrice-weekly ‘Bad Astronomy’ newsletter that keeps subscribers apprised of the latest sky news. He was the head science writer for “Bill Nye Saves the World” on Netflix in 2017. He wrote and hosted “Crash Course Astronomy”, a 46-part educational web series that has over 70 million views, which is used in our astronomy courses here at IU East. In February 2024, Dr. Plait visited the campus of IU East to offer a talk about total solar eclipses–and writing! Check out his talks below! If you are a pressbook author, we hope you’ll enjoy your copy of Under Alien Skies.

Keynote Talk 1: American Eclipse

On April 8, 2024, the United States will be treated to one of the rarest and most spectacular of celestial events: a total solar eclipse. The shadow of the Moon will fall along a narrow path across the US, including right through downtown Little Rock, which will enjoy 2 minutes and 30 seconds of totality. During that time the sky will grow dark, the stars and planets will come out, birds will stop singing, crickets will chirp, and you’ll be able to see the Sun’s corona, its gorgeous atmosphere normally far too faint to see from Earth. Renowned science communicator Dr. Phil Plait will present everything you need to know to safely watch the literally out-of-this-world event, explain the science, and even debunk a misconception or two about eclipses.

***sound starts at 6 minutes and 40 seconds

Keynote Talk 2: A Conversation about Writing

When Phil Plait was in college, he started writing articles for the newspaper to crack some jokes and have fun. Years later, he started a blog–and then watched as some of his posts went viral, paving the way for more varied writing projects that shared his passions with the world, corrected misconceptions, and made people laugh. In this 15-minute conversation, Dr. Plait talks with IU East Writing Program Director Kelly Blewett about how he got started with writing, what motivates him to write, and what advice he has for would-be writers. In the conversation, Kelly and Phil talk about an article he wrote exploring optical illusions. Here’s a link to that article.