Terence Dickinson
Encyclopedia
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(born 1943) is a leading amateur astronomer
Amateur astronomy
Amateur astronomy, also called backyard astronomy and stargazing, is a hobby whose participants enjoy watching the night sky , and the plethora of objects found in it, mainly with portable telescopes and binoculars...
and science writer who lives near the rural town of Yarker, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He is the editor of SkyNews magazine and an astronomy commentator for Discovery Channel Canada
Discovery Channel Canada
Discovery Channel is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel devoted to nature, adventure, science and technology programming. Discovery Channel is currently owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc...
. He has written fourteen books, which are widely regarded as some of the best resources available for beginners in astronomy. Dickinson teaches part-time at St. Lawrence College
St. Lawrence College, Ontario
St. Lawrence College is a College of Applied Arts and Technology with three campuses in Eastern Ontario, namely Brockville , Cornwall and Kingston .-History:...
and the asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
5272 Dickinson
5272 Dickinson
5272 Dickinson is a main-belt asteroid discovered on August 30, 1981 by Bowell, E. at Flagstaff.- External links :*...
is named after him. He has also made appearances at places such as the Echo Valley Observatory
Echo Valley Observatory
Echo Valley Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by Delta Grandview Resort, south of Algonquin Park, east of Huntsville, Ontario, Canada.-External links:* Forecast of observing conditions*...
and Ontario Science Centre
Ontario Science Centre
Ontario Science Centre is a science museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, near the Don Valley Parkway about northeast of downtown on Don Mills Road just south of Eglinton Avenue East...
.
Biography
Dickinson became interested in astronomy at age 5, after seeing a bright meteorMETEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
. When he was 14 he received a 60 mm telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
as a Christmas present: the first of nearly 20 telescopes he has owned. Past occupations include editor of Astronomy magazine and planetarium
Planetarium
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
instructor. He became a full time science writer in 1976. In 1995 Dickinson was made a Member of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, which is the nation's highest civilian achievement award. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific is a scientific and educational organization, founded in San Francisco on February 7, 1889. Its name derives from its origins on the Pacific Coast, but today it has members all over the country and the world...
awarded him the Klumpke-Roberts Award
Klumpke-Roberts Award
The Klumpke-Roberts Award was established from a bequest by astronomer Dorothea Klumpke-Roberts and recognizes outstanding contributions to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy...
in 1996.
Publications
- Nightwatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe
- The Backyard Astronomer's Guide
- Exploring the Night Sky
- Exploring the Sky by Day
- From the Big Bang to Planet X
- Splendors of the Universe
- Summer Stargazing
- The Universe and Beyond
- Extraterrestrials: A Field Guide for Earthlings