https://wiki.sarg.dev/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=108.46.229.67Vero - Wikipedia - User contributions [en]2026-08-05T12:55:48ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.44.2https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Dava_Sobel&diff=5321Dava Sobel2025-09-28T15:39:35Z<p>108.46.229.67: Added the book The Planets</p>
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<div>{{short description|American writer}}<br />
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2013}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Dava Sobel<br />
| image = Dava Sobel 2015.jpg<br />
| caption = Sobel in 2015<br />
| birth_name = <br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1947|6|15}}<ref>{{cite web|title = Self-Portrait|last = Sobel|first = Dava|url=http://davasobel.com/?page_id=547|access-date=December 26, 2013}}</ref><br />
| birth_place = [[The Bronx]], New York City<br />
| death_date = <br />
| death_place = <br />
| death_cause = <br />
| other_names = <br />
| known_for = <br />
| education = [[Bronx High School of Science]]<br />
| alma mater = [[Binghamton University]]<br />
| occupation = <br />
| spouse = <br />
| partner = <br />
| children = <br />
| parents = <br />
| relatives = <br />
| signature = Dava Sobel signature.svg<br />
| awards = Guggenheim Fellowship for Natural Sciences, US & Canada, Klumpke-Roberts Award<br />
| website = {{Official URL}}<br />
}}<br />
'''Dava Sobel''' (born June 15, 1947) is an American writer of popular expositions of scientific topics. Her books include ''[[Longitude (book)|Longitude]]'', about English clockmaker [[John Harrison]]; ''[[Galileo's Daughter]]'', about [[Galileo]]'s daughter [[Maria Celeste]]; and ''The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars'' about the [[Harvard Computers]].<br />
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==Biography==<br />
Sobel was born in [[The Bronx]], New York City. She graduated from the [[Bronx High School of Science]] and [[Binghamton University]]. She wrote ''[[Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time]]'' in 1995. The story was made into a television movie [[Longitude (TV series)|of the same name]] by [[Charles Sturridge]] and [[Granada Productions|Granada Film]] in 1999, and was shown in the United States by [[A&E (TV network)|A&E]].<br />
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Her book ''[[Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love]]'' was a finalist for the 2000 [[Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/222 | title = The Pulitzer Prizes: Biography or Autobiography | access-date = 2017-04-20}}</ref> In 2005, Sobel published ''[[Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love|The Planets]]'', her most ambitious topic to date. In this New York Times extended best seller, Sobel explores the origins and oddities of the planets through the lenses of both science and popular culture, from astrology, mythology, and science fiction to art, music, poetry, biography, and history.<br />
[[File:Dava Sobel, November 8, 2007.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Dava Sobel in November 2007]]<br />
She holds [[Doctor of Humane Letters|honorary doctor of letters]] degrees from the [[University of Bath]] and [[Middlebury College]], Vermont, both awarded in 2002.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dava Sobel Biography |url=http://www.davasobel.com/about_bio.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111206022609/http://www.davasobel.com/about_bio.php |archive-date=December 6, 2011 |df=mdy }}</ref><br />
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Sobel made her first foray into teaching at the [[University of Chicago]] as the Vare Writer-in-Residence in the winter of 2006. She taught a one-quarter seminar on science writing.<br />
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She served as a judge for the [[PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award]] in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pen.org/blog/announcing-2012-pen-literary-awards-recipients |title=Announcing the 2012 PEN Literary Award Recipients |date=October 15, 2012 |access-date=February 6, 2013 |work=[[PEN American Center]] |archive-date=April 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408174941/http://www.pen.org/blog/announcing-2012-pen-literary-awards-recipients |url-status=dead }}</ref><br />
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Sobel is the niece of journalist [[Ruth Gruber]]<ref>{{cite news|last1=Brawarsky|first1=Sandee|title=100 Years of Asking Questions|url=https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/100-years-of-asking-questions-2/|access-date=March 14, 2019|work=[[The Jewish Week]]|location=New York City|date=November 22, 2016}}</ref> and the cousin of epidemiologist [[David Michaels (epidemiologist)|David Michaels]].<br />
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==Legacy==<br />
Asteroid [[30935 Davasobel]], discovered by [[Carolyn S. Shoemaker]] and [[David H. Levy]] was named after her for her literary work in physics.<ref name=":0" /><br />
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Sobel states she is a chaser of [[solar eclipse]]s and that "it's the closest thing to witnessing a miracle". As of August 2012 she had seen eight, and planned to see the [[Solar eclipse of November 13, 2012|November 2012 total solar eclipse]] in Australia.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=Transcript|work=[[Jennifer Byrne Presents]]: Dava Sobel|url=http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/s3576835.htm#transcript|access-date=August 29, 2012}}</ref><br />
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==Publications==<br />
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?86908-1/longitude Presentation by Sobel on ''Longitude'', June 17, 1997], [[C-SPAN]]| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?116077-1/longitude ''Booknotes'' interview with Sobel on ''Longitude'', January 17, 1999], [[C-SPAN]]| video3 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?154176-1/galileos-daughter Presentation by Sobel on ''Galileo's Daughter'', December 14, 1999], [[C-SPAN]]| video4 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?160597-4/galileos-daughter-historical-memoir Presentation by Sobel on ''Galileo's Daughter'', November 19, 2000], [[C-SPAN]]| video5 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?167891-1/letters-father Presentation by Sobel on ''Letters to Father'', December 7, 2001], [[C-SPAN]]| video6 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?190405-1/the-planets Presentation by Sobel on ''The Planets'', November 15, 2005], [[C-SPAN]]| video7 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?421869-2/dava-sobel-discusses-the-glass-universe Presentation by Sobel on ''The Glass Universe'', January 19, 2017], [[C-SPAN]]}} <br />
* {{cite book| title=Arthritis: What Works; Revolutionary Healing Approaches From An Unprecedented Nationwide Survey Of People With Arthritis|url=https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0312927193|date=1992|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-0-312-92719-6 }}<br />
* {{cite book| title=Arthritis: What Exercises Work: Breakthrough Relief for the Rest of Your Life, Even After Drugs and Surgery Have Failed|date=2015|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-1250068682}}<br />
* {{cite book| title=Backache: What Exercises Work|url=https://www.amazon.ca/Backache-Exercises-Sobel-Arthur-Paperback/dp/B00ZT1A1XG|date=1996|publisher=St. Martin's Press}}<br />
* ''[[Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time]]'' (1995) {{ISBN|1-85702-571-7}}. {{OCLC|909490210}} – the genius in question was [[John Harrison]], who spent decades trying to convince the [[British Admiralty]] of the accuracy of his naval timepieces and their use in determining [[longitude]] when at sea in order to win the [[longitude prize]]. The book itself won the 1997 [[British Book of the Year]] award.<br />
* ''[[Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love]]'' (2000) {{ISBN|0-14-028055-3}}<br />
* ''The Best American Science Writing'' 2004 (editor) {{ISBN|9780060726409}}, {{OCLC|916515131}}<br />
* ''The Planets: A discourse on the discovery, science, history and mythology, of the planets in our solar system, with one chapter devoted to each of the celestial spheres.'' (2005) {{ISBN|1-85702-850-3}}, {{OCLC|77646686}}<ref>{{cite news|author=Moore, Patrick|author-link=Patrick Moore|title=Review: ''The Planets'' by Dava Sobel|newspaper=The Guardian|date=2 September 2005|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/sep/03/featuresreviews.guardianreview4}}</ref><br />
* {{cite book| title=A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1wsqz6TPw9gC|date=4 October 2011|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-8027-7893-2}} {{OCLC|819387028}}<ref>{{cite news|author=Brown, Helen|title=Review: ''A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionised the Cosmos'' by Dava Sobel|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=11 October 2011|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8811156/A-More-Perfect-Heaven-How-Copernicus-Revolutionised-the-Cosmos-by-Dava-Sobel-review.html}}</ref><br />
* ''The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars'' (2016) {{ISBN|9780143111344}}, {{OCLC|972263666}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/315726/the-glass-universe-by-dava-sobel/9780670016952/|title=''The Glass Universe'' by Dava Sobel|website=PenguinRandomhouse.com}}</ref><br />
* ''The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science'' (2024) {{ISBN|978-0802163820}}, {{OCLC|1437997660}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://groveatlantic.com/book/the-elements-of-marie-curie/|title=The Elements of Marie Curie|website=groveantlantic.com}}</ref><ref name="p894">{{cite web |last=Zernike |first=Kate |date=2024-10-10 |title=Book Review: 'The Elements of Marie Curie,' by Dava Sobel |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/10/books/review/dava-sobel-elements-of-marie-curie.html |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Spinney |first=Laura |date=2024-11-11 |title=The Elements of Marie Curie by Dava Sobel review – the great scientist who created her own school |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/11/the-elements-of-marie-curie-by-dava-sobel-review-the-great-scientist-who-created-her-own-school |access-date=2024-11-13 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><br />
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==Recognition==<br />
She was named a [[Fellow of the American Physical Society]] in 2022 "for outstanding writings covering many centuries of key developments in physics and astronomy and the people central to those developments".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=2022|title=Fellows nominated in 2022|work=APS Fellows archive|publisher=American Physical Society|access-date=2022-10-19}}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
{{Commons category|Dava Sobel}}<br />
* {{Official website}}<br />
*{{IMDb name|id=0811750|name=Dava Sobel}}<br />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120717004843/http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/articles/blogs-shanghai/shanghai-book-club/live-blogging-with-dava-sobel-paper-planets-at-the-shanghai-international-book-festival/ Podcast] of Dava Sobel discussing ''The Origins of Longitude'' at the [[Shanghai International Literary Festival]]<br />
*{{C-SPAN|47372}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sobel, Dava}}<br />
[[Category:1947 births]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]<br />
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]<br />
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]<br />
[[Category:American science writers]]<br />
[[Category:American women non-fiction writers]]<br />
[[Category:American women science writers]]<br />
[[Category:Antioch College alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Binghamton University alumni]]<br />
[[Category:The Bronx High School of Science alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]<br />
[[Category:Living people]]<br />
[[Category:Scientific American people]]</div>108.46.229.67