Ethan R. Siegel is an American theoretical astrophysicist and

science writer Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists, and the public. Origins Modern science journalism dates back to ''Digdarshan'' (means showing the di ...

, who studies the

Big Bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...

theory. In the past he has been a professor at

Lewis & Clark College Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Originally chartered in 1867 as the Albany Collegiate Institute in Albany, Oregon, the college was relocated to Portland in 1938 and in 1942 adopted the name Lewis & Cl ...

and a blogger at ''Starts With a Bang'', on

ScienceBlogs ScienceBlogs is an invitation-only blog network and virtual community that operated initially for almost 12 years, from 2006 to 2017. It was created by Seed Media Group to enhance public understanding of science. Each blog had its own theme, spec ...

and also on

Forbes.com ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family (publishers), Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing ...

since 2016.

Early life and education

Siegel was born to "a Jewish postal worker" and grew up in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, where he attended

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Spec ...

until 1996. Siegel graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in physics, classics and integrated science in 2000, and went on to earn his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree in astrophysics from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in 2006.

Career

Siegel worked at

Fermilab Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. Since 2007, Fermilab has been operat ...

in 1997. He received his undergraduate degree in physics, classics and integrated science from

in June 2000. He was unsure whether to continue studying and took the

GRE Physics Test The GRE physics test is an examination administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The test attempts to determine the extent of the examinees' understanding of fundamental principles of physics and their ability to apply them to problem ...

"just in case". He taught in high school in Houston and at

King Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science is a magnet high school of the Los Angeles Unified School District, located in Willowbrook, unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is affiliated with both the Martin ...

in inner-city Los Angeles for a year and though he "liked some aspects" of teaching he then decided he did not want to teach any longer, had a crisis and, influenced by

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...

's ''

Cosmos The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...

'', he went back into academia to study the universe. He studied theoretical cosmology, in particular

cosmological perturbation theory In physical cosmology, cosmological perturbation theory is the theory by which the ''evolution of structure'' is understood in the Big Bang model. It uses general relativity to compute the gravitational forces causing small perturbations to grow an ...

, at graduate school at the

with advisor Prof. Jim Fry from 2001. He received his PhD in 2006. During his graduate studies he was a teaching assistant and lecturer in physics, he sat on the graduate student affairs committee, and he was an assistant coordinator for

REU Reu or Ragau ( he, רְעוּ, Rə'ū; grc-x-biblical, Ῥαγαύ, Rhagaú), according to Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, was the son of Peleg and the father of Serug, thus being Abraham's great-great-grandfather and the ancestor of the Israelite ...

students. Siegel was a teaching assistant in undergraduate general physics at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in Spring 2007 and then took up a post-doctoral research post at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. In 2008, Siegel moved with his then fiancée to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, after deciding to not pursue an ambitious research career with long hours and instead focus on science outreach and have a "fuller, richer life". He taught at the

University of Portland , mottoeng = The truth will set you free , established = 1901 , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross) , endowment = $218 million , president = Robert D. Kelly , students = 3,731 (fall 20 ...

and then Lewis & Clark College, where he was a visiting assistant professor. He later became science and health editor for

Trapit Trapit is a comprehensive content curation service for business that offers content discovery, curation, and publishing to web, iPad, and social channels through its web application. The application pulls from text and video sources and offers buil ...

. He moved to Toledo in late 2014, while continuing to occasionally teach at Lewis & Clark. He became a full-time self-employed science writer in May 2018.

Outreach

In December 2015 Siegel published his

popular science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

book ''Beyond the Galaxy: How Humanity Looked Beyond Our Milky Way and Discovered the Entire Universe'' with

World Scientific World Scientific Publishing is an academic publisher of scientific, technical, and medical books and journals headquartered in Singapore. The company was founded in 1981. It publishes about 600 books annually, along with 135 journals in various f ...

, which he said is for "people who are curious and intelligent but don’t have scientific backgrounds". In the book, Siegel critiques the

MOND Modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) is a hypothesis that proposes a modification of Newton's law of universal gravitation to account for observed properties of galaxies. It is an alternative to the hypothesis of dark matter in terms of explaining ...

theory of gravity, arguing "its failure to meet the criteria of reproducing the successes of the already-established leading theory means that it has not yet risen to the status of scientifically viable."

Greg Laden Gregory Thomas Laden is an American biological anthropologist and science blogger. Education Born in 1958, Laden received his B.A. from the University of the State of New York's Regents College program in 1984, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard ...

compared it to Isaac Asimov's " The Intelligent Man's Guide to the Physical Sciences", physicist

Sabine Hossenfelder Sabine Hossenfelder (born 1976) is a German theoretical physicist, author, musician and YouTuber. She is currently employed as a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies. She is the author of ''Lost in Math: How Beauty Le ...

said it "is the missing link between cosmology textbooks and popular science articles", and PhD student Jonah Miller said it is "one of those rare books that not only communicates scientific ideas, but communicates what science itself is all about." In 2012 and 2015, he was the Science Guest of Honor and

toastmaster Toastmaster is a general term, prevalent in the United States in the mid-20th century, referring to a person in charge of the proceedings of a public speaking event. The toastmaster is typically charged with organization of the event, arrangin ...

MidSouthCon MidSouthCon is an annual multi-day fan convention in the Mid-Southern United States. Background Run by Mid-South Science and Fictions Conventions Inc., the annual multi-day fan convention focuses on anime, comic books, fantasy media, films, ...

, where he promoted the joy of science. In April 2017, he was the Science Guest of Honor at

Norwescon Norwescon is one of the largest regional science fiction and fantasy conventions in the United States. Located in SeaTac in Washington state, Norwescon has been running continuously since 1978. "Norwescon" was also the name of the 8th World S ...

40. Siegel wears costumes such as a wrestler or superhero to attract attention to his science communication.

Blog

Siegel's blog ''Starts With a Bang'' started in January 2008 at startswithabang.com and then ScienceBlogs from March 2009 to October 2017. The blog included a monthly

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

and Siegel posts answers to questions from readers in the "Ask Ethan" series. He hosted guest bloggers, including

and

Paul Halpern Paul Halpern (; born 1961) is an American author and Professor of Physics at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Life Halpern received a Ph.D in theoretical physics, an M.A. in physics and a B.A. in physics and mathematics. He was also ...

. Topics he covered include

adaptive optics Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effect of incoming wavefront distortions by deforming a mirror in order to compensate for the distortion. It is used in astronomical tele ...

, using lasers in astronomy to adjust for atmospheric turbulence, the detection of gravitational waves from colliding black holes by

LIGO The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory designed to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Two large ...

, and why

quantum entanglement Quantum entanglement is the phenomenon that occurs when a group of particles are generated, interact, or share spatial proximity in a way such that the quantum state of each particle of the group cannot be described independently of the state of ...

does not allow faster-than-light communication. By January 2011, his blog had been viewed 2 million times. Described as "beautifully illustrated and full of humour", his blog won the 2010 Physics.org award for best blog, judged by

Adam Rutherford Adam David Rutherford (born 1975) is a British geneticist and science populariser. He was an audio-visual content editor for the journal ''Nature'' for a decade, and is a frequent contributor to the newspaper ''The Guardian''. He hosts the BBC R ...

, Alom Shaha,

Gia Milinovich Gia Michele Milinovich (born 11 July 1969) is an American-British television presenter and writer. Early life Milinovich was born in Minnesota to an ethnic Serbian family,. Career She presented television programmes such as Channel 4's ''Dem ...

, Hayley Birch, Lata Sahonta, and

Stuart Clark Stuart Rupert Clark (born 28 September 1975) is an Australian former cricketer who played for New South Wales and the Australian team. He was a right-arm fast-medium bowler. His nickname "Sarfraz" originates from the similarities of his bowli ...

and the people's choice award, and his post "Where Is Everybody?" came third in the 2011 3 Quarks Daily science writing awards, judged by

Lisa Randall Lisa Randall (born June 18, 1962) is an American theoretical physicist working in particle physics and cosmology. She is the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science on the physics faculty of Harvard University. Her research includes the funda ...

, winning a "Charm Quark" for " akingon the challenge of simplifying probability estimates without sacrificing the nature of the enterprise or suppressing the uncertainties involved". Siegel headed the RealClearScience list of top science bloggers in 2013, as his "unmatched ability to describe the nearly indecipherable made him an easy choice for #1." Siegel also wrote a column for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

, ''The Space Place''. He continues to contribute content on Forbes website.

Works

Siegel first published in physics in 2003, working mainly on

dark matter Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not ab ...

and

structure formation In physical cosmology, structure formation is the formation of galaxies, galaxy clusters and larger structures from small early density fluctuations. The universe, as is now known from observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation, beg ...

. Significant works include: * * * * Siegel also writes articles beyond astrophysics. For example, following the publication of Science article by prominent US and UK researchers advocating for further investigation of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Siegel advocates that Covid-19 did not come from Chinese labs.

Personal life

Siegel lived in Portland from 2008 and has lived in

Toledo, Washington Toledo is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States. The population was 631 at the 2020 census. History Toledo was officially incorporated on October 10, 1892. Toledo was named by Celeste Rochon after a pioneer side wheel paddle steamer ...

since 2014. He is married to Jamie Cummings, whom he met in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

. He has a large beard and moustache and wears a kilt; with Jamie he entered the West Coast Beard and Mustache competition in Portland in 2011. He is "often asked why he doesn’t look like a scientist". Siegel is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. He plays online chess and is a fan of

My Little Pony ''My Little Pony'' (''MLP'') is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature c ...

References

External links

Website at the University of Florida (from 2007)Publication record
on the High-Energy Physics Literature Database
Contributor profile
at

Starts With a Bang monthly podcasts

Ethan Siegel YouTube Channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siegel, Ethan Scientists from New York (state) Lewis & Clark College faculty American astrophysicists American cosmologists Northwestern University alumni University of Florida alumni The Bronx High School of Science alumni American atheists Jewish American scientists Living people Science bloggers American male bloggers American bloggers American science writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Scientists from the Bronx 21st-century American Jews Year of birth missing (living people)