Ian William Ridpath (born 1 May 1947, in
Ilford,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
) is an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
science writer and broadcaster best known as a popularizer of astronomy and a biographer of constellation history. As a UFO sceptic, he investigated and explained the
Rendlesham Forest Incident of December 1980.
Life and career
Ridpath attended
Beal Grammar School in Ilford where he wrote astronomy articles for the school magazine. Before entering publishing he was an assistant in the lunar research group at the
University of London Observatory
UCL Observatory (called the University of London Observatory until 2015) at Mill Hill in London is an astronomical teaching observatory. It is part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at University College London.
History
The Observator ...
, Mill Hill. He now lives in
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
, Middlesex.
He is editor of the ''Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy'' and
Norton's Star Atlas
{{refimprove, date=August 2015
''Norton's Star Atlas'' is a set of 16 celestial charts, first published in 1910 and currently in its 20th edition under the editorship of Ian Ridpath. The ''Star Atlas'' covers the entire northern and southern sky, ...
, and author of observing guides such as ''The Monthly Sky Guide'' and the ''Collins Stars and Planets Guide'' (the latter two with charts by
Wil Tirion
Wil Tirion (born February 19, 1943) is a Dutch uranographer (celestial cartographer). His most famous work, ''Sky Atlas 2000.0'', is renowned by astronomers for its accuracy and beauty. The second edition of his most complete work, ''Uranometria ...
, and both continuously in print for over 30 years). His other books include ''Star Tales'', about the origins and mythology of the constellations, and the children's book ''Exploring Stars and Planets'', now in its fifth edition. He is a contributor to the Dorling Kindersley encyclopedia ''
Universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...
'', and a former editor of the UK quarterly magazine ''
Popular Astronomy
Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers ...
''. He is also currently editor of ''The Antiquarian Astronomer'', the journal of the
Society for the History of Astronomy
The Society for the History of Astronomy is an organisation based in the United Kingdom that promotes research into the history of astronomy. It publishes a research journal called ''The Antiquarian Astronomer'' and a regular ''Bulletin''.
The s ...
.
His early books on the subject of extraterrestrial life and interstellar travel – ''Worlds Beyond'' (1975), ''Messages from the Stars'' (1978) and ''Life off Earth'' (1983) – led him to investigate UFOs. But he became a sceptic, a position reinforced by his findings about the Rendlesham case. He was one of the first to offer an explanation for the so-called Sirius Mystery involving the supposedly advanced astronomical knowledge of the
Dogon people
The Dogon are an ethnic group indigenous to the central plateau region of Mali, in West Africa, south of the Niger River, Niger bend, near the city of Bandiagara, and in Burkina Faso. The population numbers between 400,000 and 800,000. They spe ...
of Mali, west Africa.
He was a space expert for
LBC
LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...
Radio from the 1970s into the 1990s, and was also seen on BBC TV's
Breakfast Time programme in its early years. It was for Breakfast Time that he first investigated the Rendlesham Forest UFO case.
His star show Planet Earth ran at the
London Planetarium
The London Planetarium building is located on Marylebone Road, London. It is adjacent to and owned by Madame Tussauds. It previously housed a planetarium, offering shows related to space and astronomy. In 2006, it closed as a separate attrac ...
from February 1993 to January 1995; it was the last show to use the planetarium's original
Zeiss optical projector.
Awards
In 2012 he received the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's
Klumpke-Roberts Award
The Klumpke-Roberts Award, one of seven international and national awards for service to astronomy and astronomy education given by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, was established from a bequest by astronomer Dorothea Klumpke-Roberts to ...
for outstanding contributions to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy. In 1990 he won an award in
The Aventis Prizes for Science Books
The Royal Society Science Books Prize is an annual £25,000 prize awarded by the Royal Society to celebrate outstanding popular science books from around the world. It is open to authors of science books written for a non-specialist audience, and ...
(in the under-8 children's books category) for ''The Giant Book of Space''.
Other interests
From 1993 to 1995 he was Race Director of the
Polytechnic Marathon
The Polytechnic Marathon, often called the Poly, was a marathon held annually between 1909 and 1996, over various courses in or near London. It was the first marathon to be run regularly over the distance of 26 miles, 385 yards which is now the g ...
from Windsor to Chiswick, Britain's oldest marathon race which traced its origins back to the 1908 Olympic Marathon. In that role, he was involved in a public controversy over the ownership of the ''
Sporting Life'' marathon trophy, originally awarded to winners of the Polytechnic Marathon, which was claimed in 1994 by the
London Marathon
The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held ...
. The Polytechnic Marathon was last held in 1996.
A keen astro-philatelist, he is chairman of the Astro Space Stamp Society.
Astro Space Stamp Society
/ref>
Selected bibliography
* ''Stars and Planets Guide''. Collins (UK). . Princeton University Press (US). .
* ''The Monthly Sky Guide''. Dover. .
* ''Astronomy: A Visual Guide''. Dorling Kindersley. .
* ''Gem Stars''. Collins. .
* ''Times Universe''. Times Books. .
* ''Exploring Stars and Planets''. Philip's. .
* ''Star Tales''. Lutterworth. .
* ''Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy'' (ed.). Oxford University Press. .
* ''Norton’s Star Alas and Reference Handbook'' (ed.). Dutton. .
References
External links
Who's Who entry
Ian Ridpath's page at Amazon Author Central US
Ian Ridpath's page at Amazon Author Central UK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridpath, Ian
1947 births
Amateur astronomers
English sceptics
English science writers
Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society
Living people
People from Ilford
UFO skeptics