Asif Azam Siddiqi is a Bangladeshi American space historian and a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

winner. He is a professor of history at

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

. He specializes in the history of science and technology and modern Russian history. He has written several books on the history of

space exploration Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by robotic spacec ...

Early life and education

Siddiqi was born to Hafiz G. A. Siddiqi, Vice-Chancellor of North South University in Dhaka and Najma Siddiqi, a retired professor of philosophy at Jahangirnagar University. Siddiqi received his bachelor's and master's from Texas A&M University. He passed SSC from

St Joseph Higher Secondary School, Dhaka St. Joseph Higher Secondary School ( bn, সেন্ট যোসেফ উচ্চ মাধ্যমিক বিদ্যালয়) is a Catholic higher secondary school in 97 Asad Avenue Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is a mono-e ...

. He then completed his M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and received his Ph.D. from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

in 2004 under a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study Cold War science and technologies.

Career

Siddiqi's first book ''Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945-1974'' is widely considered to be the best English-language history of the Soviet space program in print and was identified by '' The Wall Street Journal'' as "one of the five best books" on space exploration. This book was later published in paperback in two separate volumes, ''Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge'' and ''The Soviet Space Race with Apollo''. Siddiqi's major contribution to space history scholarship has been to apply academic training, theory, and methodology to the study of Soviet space program history. Siddiqi utilized newly available archival materials from Russia, published works such as memoirs, and other sources and essentially pioneered Soviet space history scholarship in the post

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

-era. Even current Russian-based space history tends to rely heavily upon memoirs and as a result, Siddiqi is acknowledged by Russian space officials as one of the few people conducting original archival research on the subject worldwide. His articles have been published in the leading Russian space journal ''Novosti kosmonavtiki'' (News of Cosmonautics) as well as the official history journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ''Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki'' (Problems in the History of Natural Sciences and Technology). He also regularly publishes pieces in the Moscow English language daily, Moscow Times. He is a currently serving on the United States National Research Council's Committee on Human Spaceflight, tasked by Congress to evaluate and recommend options for the future of NASA's human spaceflight program. Siddiqi is also the editor of the series ''Rockets and People'' which are the four volume English-language translation of the memoirs of Boris Chertok, a leading designer who worked under Sergei Korolev. These volumes are being published by the NASA History Division. He was featured in the

NOVA A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

WGBH-TV special ''Astrospies'' broadcast in 2008, and has been featured in various media as a specialist in the history of spaceflight. He has received the American Historical Association's Fellowship in Aerospace history, the

Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Award The Eugene M. Emme Award is an award given annually to a person or persons selected by a panel of reviewers from the American Astronautical Society History Committee to recognize "the truly outstanding book published each year serving public unders ...

, the

History Manuscript Award History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a National Science Foundation award for work on his Ph.D. dissertation.

Works

Siddiq's most recent book ''The Red Rockets' Glare: Spaceflight and the Soviet Imagination, 1857-1957'' (Cambridge, 2010) recovered the social and cultural roots of cosmic enthusiasm in the Russian context dating back to the 19th century. He has published widely in many different journals, including the '' Osiris'', '' Technology and Culture'', ''

History and Technology ''History and Technology'' is a quarterly peer reviewed academic journal devoted to publishing papers on all aspects of the history of technology. It was established in 1983. One of the founding editors was Pietro Redondi. The subjects range from ...

'', '' Europe-Asia Studies'', '' Acta Astronautica'', Air & Space, '' Journal of the British Interplanetary Society'', and '' Spaceflight.''

References

External links

Profile and list of Publications
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siddiqi, Asif Azam Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Bangladeshi emigrants to the United States Carnegie Mellon University alumni Texas A&M University alumni Isenberg School of Management alumni Fordham University faculty 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American science writers American editors History of spaceflight Historians from Texas American male non-fiction writers