Wilson da Silva is an Australian feature writer, science journalist, editor and documentary filmmaker who has worked in magazines, newswires, newspapers, television and online. He is a co-founder and the long-serving former editor of ''

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 ...

'', an Australian science magazine.

Career

Da Silva has been an on-air science reporter and producer for

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

television, a staff journalist on ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'' and ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' newspapers, a foreign correspondent for

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

, science editor of ABC Online, a correspondent for London's ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...

'' magazine, and served as managing editor of the science magazines ''Newton'', ''21C'' and ''Science Spectra''. He was the founding Content Director of the Waterloo Global Science Initiative, and Moderator of Equinox Summit: Energy 2030, the inaugural meeting at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada, which sought to apply science and technology to global problems. From 2006–09, he was editor-in-chief of the Green Lifestyle Magazine, an environmental consumer lifestyle title that was the country's first carbon neutral magazine and produced on 100% recycled paper. He is the creator of ''

HELLO FROM EARTH Active SETI (Active Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) is the attempt to send messages to intelligent extraterrestrial life. Active SETI messages are predominantly sent in the form of radio signals. Physical messages like that of the P ...

'', a web-based initiative to send messages from the public, each just 160 characters in length, to

Gliese 581d Gliese 581d (often shortened to Gl 581d or GJ 581d) is a proposed extrasolar planet orbiting within the Gliese 581 system, approximately 20.4 light-years away in the Libra constellation. It is the third planet claimed in the system and (assumi ...

, the nearest Earth-like planet outside the

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

. Created as a science communication exercise for 2009

National Science Week Science Week (sometimes National Science Week) refers to series of science-related events for the general public which are held in a specific countries during a designated week of the year. The aim of such science weeks is to engage and inspire pe ...

in Australia, it collected nearly 26,000 messages that were beamed by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) is a satellite communication station, part of the Deep Space Network of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), located at Tidbinbilla in the Australian Capital Territory. Opened in 1 ...

on 28 August 2009. The winner of 32 awards, including Editor of the Year (twice – in 2005 and 2006, Publishers Australia Excellence Awards), the 1997 Human Rights Award for Print Journalism and the 1996 Michael Daley Award for Science Journalism. He has also written and produced two prize-winning documentaries, including ''The Diplomat'', the film that depicted Nobel Peace laureate

José Ramos-Horta José Manuel Ramos-Horta (; born 26 December 1949) is an East Timorese politician currently serving as president of East Timor since May 2022. He previously served as president from 20 May 2007 to 20 May 2012. Previously he was Minister of For ...

and his eventually successful struggle to win independence for

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...

. The film won da Silva and fellow producer Sally Browning the 2000 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Documentary. Da Silva served as president of the World Federation of Science Journalists, the Australian Science Communicators, and The

Australian Museum The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...

Society, and as a board member of the

Australian Society of Authors The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) was formed in 1963 as the organisation to promote and protect the rights of Australia's authors and illustrators. The Fellowship of Australian Writers played a key role it its establishment. The organisati ...

. He is one of the founders of Science in the Pub, an innovative public communication initiative which was jointly awarded the 2000 Eureka Prize for the Promotion of Science. In October 2009, da Silva created and hosted six Science in the Pub sessions for the Quantum to Cosmos festival at

Perimeter Institute Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI, Perimeter, PITP) is an independent research centre in foundational theoretical physics located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1999. The institute's founding and major benefactor i ...

in Waterloo, Ontario, and also hosted two Quantum to Cosmos panels. In his opening panel, he asked nine physicists, "what keeps you awake at night?" After departing as editor-in-chief of ''Cosmos'' in 2013, he has stated that he plans to "sit back and either get back into films or maybe write some books." He makes frequent appearances on radio and television in Australia, including breakfast TV shows ''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

'' and ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'', and has spoken at many public lectures and conferences, among them the UNESCO

World Science Forum The World Science Forum (WSF) is an international conference series on global science policy. Since 2003, it is organised biannually in Budapest, Hungary. The WSF traces back its origin to the first World Conference on Science, organised by UN ...

, the EuroScience Open Forum, and Japan's annual Science and Technology in Society Forum. Born in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Career

Filmography

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Independent Documentaries

Awards

References

External links