Background
Sten Felix Odenwald was born on the 23rd of November, 1952 in Karlskoga, Sweden; the son of Sten Felix and Rosa Gunhild (Juhlin) Odenwald. His family immigrated to Oakland, California, in 1955.
1982
30 Dunster St, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States
Sten Odenwald studied at Harvard University, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in 1976 and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1982 in the area of infrared astronomy through his investigation of star-forming activity in the nuclear regions of the Milky Way galaxy.
1982
30 Dunster St, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States
Sten Odenwald studied at Harvard University, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in 1976 and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1982 in the area of infrared astronomy through his investigation of star-forming activity in the nuclear regions of the Milky Way galaxy.
1999
Sten Odenwald and his team received the Telly Award in 1999 for best educational Video 'Blackout!'.
2012
Sten Odenwald discusses the Transit of Venus.
2012
Sten Odenwald
2014
1263 Lincoln Dr, Carbondale, IL 62901, United States
Sten Odenwald at Southern Illinois University.
2014
1263 Lincoln Dr, Carbondale, IL 62901, United States
Sten Odenwald at Southern Illinois University.
2014
1263 Lincoln Dr, Carbondale, IL 62901, United States
Sten Odenwald at Southern Illinois University.
2015
Sten Odenwald
101 Sproul Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
Sten Odenwald attended the University of California in Berkeley, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Astronomy in 1975.
Sten Odenwald
Sten Odenwald
Sten Odenwald
Sten Odenwald
Sten Odenwald
Emmy Award
(From the dawn of humanity, we have gazed at the night sky...)
From the dawn of humanity, we have gazed at the night sky with wonder. What lies out there among the shining stars and infinite heavens? Up until a few hundred years ago much of what we believed about space and astronomy was mostly speculation. Today, of course, the situation is vastly different.
https://www.amazon.com/Astronomy-Cafe-Questions-Answers-Astronomer/dp/1567313817
1998
(The 23rd Cycle traces the previously untold history of so...)
The 23rd Cycle traces the previously untold history of solar storms and the ways in which they were perceived by astronomers and even occasionally covered up by satellite companies. Punctuated with an insert containing dramatic color images showing the erupting sun, the book also includes a history of the record of auroral sightings, accounts of communications blackouts from the twentieth century, a list of industries sensitive to solar storms, and information about radiation and health issues.
https://www.amazon.com/23rd-Cycle-Sten-Odenwald/dp/0231120788
2001
(Patterns in the Void examines the great dark matter and d...)
Patterns in the Void examines the great dark matter and dark regions that pervade the universe, from elementary particles to the immense areas of vacuum that make up most of deep space, and everything that is or is not.
https://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Void-Why-Nothing-Important/dp/0813339383
2002
(In the all-new Back to the Astronomy Café, Odenwald answe...)
In the all-new Back to the Astronomy Café, Odenwald answers the latest and most-asked questions relating to these recent discoveries. His highly personal and authoritative style makes understanding the cosmos less intimidating, exciting, and fun.
https://www.amazon.com/Back-Astronomy-Cafe-Sten-Odenwald/dp/0813341663
2003
(This is a compilation of the Top-100 questions answered a...)
This is a compilation of the Top-100 questions answered at The Astronomy Cafe between 1995 and 2013 from an archive of over 3000, which were requested over 10 million times. The topics range from Higgs bosons and the nature of gravity to extrasolar Earth-like planets and global warming. There is also a collection of tables that include a list of the known nearby black holes, the most distant objects we know in the universe, and upcoming asteroids that may hit Earth.
https://www.amazon.com/Ask-Astronomer-Astronomy-Cafes-popular/dp/1505893887
2015
(This is a companion guide to Odenwald's previous book, Th...)
This is a companion guide to Odenwald's previous book, The 23rd Cycle. It is a fast-paced chronicle of over 2000 years of solar storms that have caused not only panic and fear, but have impacted virtually every technology that has been developed during the last 200 years including telegraphs, telephones, radio communications, satellite operations, the electrical power grid and human operations in space.
https://www.amazon.com/Solar-Storms-years-human-calamity/dp/1505941466
2015
(For thousands of years humans have flirted with understan...)
For thousands of years humans have flirted with understanding space. But now it seems there are so many loose ends in 20th century physics that we are forced to have a closer look at this thing we call space. What we do know from where we stand today, is that virtually everything we thought we knew about space because of our 'common sense' actually turns out to be mostly wrong when you look at the details. This book is a guide to how this search is moving forward, from our common sense ideas to the frontiers of quantum gravity and black hole research.
https://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Quantum-Space-mystery-space/dp/1506084249
2015
(Between the birth of the universe and eternity are an inc...)
Between the birth of the universe and eternity are an incredible number of key events that trace the emergence of the physical world, our earth, the appearance of life, and the ascent of humans and their intellectual culture. This book features over 2,400 events culled from the scientific literature and from future speculation to fill-in our piece of eternity with meaningful events that made us who we are as individuals, a species, and as a living system.
https://www.amazon.com/Eternity-Users-Guide-Sten-Odenwald/dp/1507588259
2015
(This book describes the many astronomical and human-scale...)
This book describes the many astronomical and human-scale issues that make interstellar travel a formidable challenge, even with the right technology for making the actual trip. Since the 1920s, science fiction authors have invented dozens of ways to make interstellar travel a reality. Sadly, after nearly 100 years of effort, scientists and engineers have yet to invent a single inexpensive technology to get us to the stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Interstellar-Travel-Dr-Sten-Odenwald/dp/1512056278
2015
(Space travel revolves around the answers to three major q...)
Space travel revolves around the answers to three major questions that have confronted explorers for thousands of years: 1) Where will we go? 2) What will we do when we get there? 3) How will it benefit folks back home? Far beyond the technological issue of how to actually travel in space is the very practical issue of answering these questions long before we turn the first screw in the hardware, or the first plank in a ship's hull is layed.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Space-Travel-Where-benefit/dp/1544694458
2017
(This book is a summary of over one thousand events in the...)
This book is a summary of over one thousand events in the history of our universe from 'before' the Big Bang to the appearance of life on Earth, and the evolution of the human species to the time of the last Ice Age. The interplay of these events in time reveals many amazing patterns that combined to lead to the present moment and beyond.
https://www.amazon.com/Cosmic-History-Big-Bang-last-ebook/dp/B06XHRDMG3
2017
(Cosmic History II continues our exploration of the events...)
Cosmic History II continues our exploration of the events in the cosmic timeline from the end of the last Ice Age some 20,000 years ago, to the present time. It also includes predicted or likely events extending from the near future to the unimaginable far future when time itself may come to a final end.
https://www.amazon.com/Cosmic-History-II-Ice-Time-ebook/dp/B06XKZXPYV
2017
(Within the pages of this eclectic pop-history, scientist ...)
Within the pages of this eclectic pop-history, scientist and educator Sten Odenwald at NASA examines 100 objects that forever altered what we know and how we think about the cosmos. From Sputnik to Skylab and Galileo's telescope to the Curiosity rover, some objects are iconic and some obscure but all are utterly important.
https://www.amazon.com/Space-Exploration_A-History-100-Objects/dp/1615196145
2019
(From black holes to dark matter, stellar dynamics to time...)
From black holes to dark matter, stellar dynamics to time travel, this concise introduction to astrophysics makes a big bang. NASA scientist and astronomer Sten Odenwald explain the key concepts of astrophysics, bringing clarity to some of the great mysteries of space.
https://www.amazon.com/Knowledge-Nutshell-Astrophysics-Sten-Odenwald/dp/1789502209
2019
(Degree in a Book: Cosmology is the perfect introduction t...)
Degree in a Book: Cosmology is the perfect introduction to cosmology, astronomy, and astrophysics. Written by one of NASA's leading astronomers and educators, this book provides you with the essential foundations for understanding the science behind the universe we live in.
https://www.amazon.com/Degree-Book-Cosmology-Everything-Subject/dp/1789505518
2019
(Quantum theory is at the heart of modern physics, but how...)
Quantum theory is at the heart of modern physics, but how does it actually work? NASA scientist and communicator Sten Odenwald demystifies this crucial subject and makes it accessible to everyone. Featuring topics such as Schrodinger's cat, the wave-particle duality and the newly emerging theories of quantum gravity, Knowledge in a Nutshell: Quantum Physics provides an essential introduction to cutting edge science.
https://www.amazon.com/Knowledge-Nutshell-Including-Heisenbergs-Uncertainty/dp/1789505836
2020
Astronomer astrophysicist educator scientist author
Sten Felix Odenwald was born on the 23rd of November, 1952 in Karlskoga, Sweden; the son of Sten Felix and Rosa Gunhild (Juhlin) Odenwald. His family immigrated to Oakland, California, in 1955.
For Sten studying Math in high school was generally a frustrating process with lots of tears. His parents were unable to help him with Geometry, Algebra or Advanced Math, and there weren't any tutors available. He was a B-average student, with very occasional As through grade 11, but then an amazing thing happened. In his senior year in high school, he took an Advanced Math 'pre-calculus' course but later he was learning differential and integral calculus. He totally fell in love with calculus. So, after all that grade-school frustration, he had finally persevered and discovered just how beautiful Math is and how it applied to Physics and Astronomy.
Odenwald attended the University of California in Berkeley, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Astronomy in 1975. There, he took an Introductory Astronomy course and submitted the 'paper' that he wrote in 10th grade as his term paper and got an 'A' on it. Also, he studied at Harvard University, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in 1976 and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1982 in the area of infrared astronomy through his investigation of star-forming activity in the nuclear regions of the Milky Way galaxy.
Sten Odenwald began to work at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, where he participated in high-altitude balloon launches involving the 1-meter infrared telescope that Giovanni Fazio and his team built in 1975. At Harvard University, he served as a teaching assistant for Owen Gingerich and David Latham. From 1977 to 1978, he taught the History of Astronomy course. After that, for one year, he taught Cosmic Evolution. Besides, between 1978 and 1980, he led a summer session on Introductory Astronomy. In 1980-1981, Sten taught a course about Space, Time and Motion. Then he worked under contract at NASA Headquarters as an astronomer doing education work for two years. After that, in 1992, he returned to full-time research work with the history-making COBE project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Also, he worked at the Naval Research Laboratory, Space Science Division, where he led a team of astronomers to support NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer mission, from 1991 to 1996.
When that program ended, Sten was asked to be the Director of the Education and Public Outreach Program for the NASA IMAGE Mission, from 1997 to 2002. Also, he was the Director of the NASA SpaceMath@NASA Program for ADNET Corporation in Greenbelt, Maryland, from 2008 to 2012. There, he worked under a NASA Education Grant. The SpaceMath@NASA Program provides teachers and students with math content related to NASA mission science and discoveries. Since 2012, he has been the Director of STEM Resource Development at the National Institute of Aerospace in Hampton, Virginia. Also, he is the Director of the Space Math@NASA project which is NASA-based, 'STEM' education program that develops K-12 math problems featuring scientific discoveries from across NASA and delivers teacher Professional Development programmes to train teachers to integrate space science concepts into their mathematics curriculum.
Sten Odenwald has enormous teaching experience. Additionally to his working experience at Harvard University, he worked at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, where he was a lecturer of Astronomy in 1978-1981. As an avid popularizer, he taught a course about Cosmology and Astronomy with the Smithsonian Resident Associates Program in Washington and with the Johns Hopkins Center for Continuing Education in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1985 to 1987. Moreover, he led the Johns Hopkins Odyssey Program - Understanding Space and Time - during 1997 and 1998 and Johns Hopkins Odyssey Program - The Mystery of Space and Time - in 2002-2003. From 1996 to 2005, he was education and public outreach lead for Raytheon Information Technology & Scientific Services (ITSS) in Lanham, Maryland. There he developed educational resources for the IMAGE satellite program and supported the Sun-Earth Day program and developed mathematics-based resources and science content for space weather concepts. Also, he conducted workshops and teacher Professional Development sessions. After that, for three years, he held the post of the education and public outreach lead for QSS Corporation in Lanham, Maryland, where he developed educational resources for the Hinode solar mission, wrote and updated website and created Space Math Problem of the Week featuring mathematics problems related to mission content.
As an author, Sten Odenwald wrote his first book, The Astronomy Cafe, in 1998, in which he presents a selection of his breezy, easily understood responses to questions commonly asked about space. Since that time he has published extensively. His most recent book, Knowledge in a Nutshell: Quantum Physics: The Complete Guide to Quantum Physics, Including Wave Functions, Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and Quantum Gravity, came out in 2020. Besides, he has a number of websites promoting science education including The Astronomy Cafe, that he has led since 1995, and Space Weather. In his more than 15 years as an astronomer, he has published over 50 papers on infrared astronomy and has been a frequent contributor to such popular magazines as Astronomy and Sky and Telescope.
(Space travel revolves around the answers to three major q...)
2017(Between the birth of the universe and eternity are an inc...)
2015(Patterns in the Void examines the great dark matter and d...)
2002(This book is a summary of over one thousand events in the...)
2017(Quantum theory is at the heart of modern physics, but how...)
2020(The 23rd Cycle traces the previously untold history of so...)
2001(Within the pages of this eclectic pop-history, scientist ...)
2019(This book describes the many astronomical and human-scale...)
2015(This is a compilation of the Top-100 questions answered a...)
2015(Cosmic History II continues our exploration of the events...)
2017(In the all-new Back to the Astronomy Café, Odenwald answe...)
2003(From black holes to dark matter, stellar dynamics to time...)
2019(Degree in a Book: Cosmology is the perfect introduction t...)
2019(From the dawn of humanity, we have gazed at the night sky...)
1998(This is a companion guide to Odenwald's previous book, Th...)
2015(For thousands of years humans have flirted with understan...)
2015
Quotations:
"An astronomer is, above all else, an explorer and a dreamer. Of course, he studies the Universe and tries to answer many clever questions about it, but in the end, he knows that it is only his imagination that will let him walk in a distant world, or see a black hole up close. The thrill of being able to apply basic mathematics and physics to understanding in a deep way how things out there work is a thrill that the non-scientist can not easily imagine, but can aspire to. Every research paper we write that uncovers a bit of the great mystery of life is like the rush an artist gets completing a canvas, a poem, or an intricate musical score. This is why scientists and artists are kindred spirits in life's journey. No one really understands them very well, but without a little art and astronomy, society is much the poorer."
"It is absolutely true that scientists are adults who never stopped being children at play. Your playfulness with the world around you is the battery that will drive your scientific creativity. Creativity in science is the wild card. It is not something you can create by following a set of directions in life the way many people in the adult world want you to do."
"The secret to success in science is to feel passionate about something and then do something about it. Don't just sit in a chair and passively expect the knowledge to 'appear' in your brain. You have to be resourceful and go after information and absorb it. Don't wait for a teacher to assign it as homework!"
"Quantum fluctuations are, at their root, completely a-causal, in the sense that cause and effect and order of events in time is not a part of how these fluctuations work. Because of this, there seem not to be any correlations built into these kinds of fluctuations because 'law' as we understand the term requires some kind of cause-and-effect structure to pre-exist. Quantum fluctuations can precede physical law, but it seems that the converse is not true. So in the big bang, the establishment of 'law' came after the event itself, but of course, even the concept of time and causality may not have been quite the same back then as they are now."
Sten Odenwald is a member of the American Astronomical Society and International Astronomical Union.
Sten is married to Susan Jane Clermont. They have two daughters - Stacia and Emily.