Mark Boslough facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mark Boslough
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Mark Boslough CSICon at 2018 Climate Literacy Workshop
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| Born | |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | California Institute of Technology Colorado State University |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics Geophysics Planetary Defense |
| Institutions | Los Alamos National Laboratory University of New Mexico Sandia National Laboratories |
| Doctoral advisor | Thomas J. Ahrens |
Mark Boslough is an American scientist who studies how objects from space hit Earth. He works as a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and is a research professor at the University of New Mexico. He is also a member of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and leads the expert panel for Asteroid Day.
Dr. Boslough is known for his work on planetary impacts, which are when things like asteroids hit planets. He also studies global catastrophes, which are huge disasters. Because of his important work, a space rock called Asteroid 73520 Boslough was named after him!
Contents
Early Life and Education
Mark Boslough grew up in Broomfield, Colorado. He went to Colorado State University and earned a bachelor's degree in physics. Later, he studied at the California Institute of Technology, where he received both his master's and PhD degrees in applied physics.
Exploring Space Impacts
Dr. Boslough is a top expert on how objects from space hit planets and cause big events. His research on "airbursts" changed how scientists thought about the danger of asteroid collisions. An airburst happens when an asteroid explodes in the air before it hits the ground. His ideas are now widely accepted by other scientists.
He was the first to suggest that the Libyan Desert Glass, a strange yellow-green glass found in the desert, was made when an airburst melted the sand. This idea became popular through TV shows like "Tutunkhamun's Fireball" from the BBC and "Ancient Asteroid" from National Geographic.
Dr. Boslough has also been a strong voice against some ideas, like the "Younger Dryas impact hypothesis." This idea suggests a large airburst caused a sudden climate change and a mass extinction long ago. He argued that some scientists misunderstood his airburst models. He even appeared on the Nova show "Last Extinction" as a skeptic, sharing his scientific doubts.
Predicting Airbursts
In 2011, Dr. Boslough made an important prediction. He said it was almost certain (more than 99% likely) that the next dangerous space object event would be an airburst. Less than two years later, on February 15, 2013, his prediction came true. An airburst happened over Chelyabinsk, Russia, and injured over 1,000 people. Dr. Boslough was one of the first Western scientists to visit Chelyabinsk to study the event. He also helped film a Nova documentary called "Meteor Strike." Many documentaries about space impacts feature his work on modeling these events.
In 2011, he was also chosen as a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. This group promotes scientific thinking and investigates claims that aren't based on science.
In 2014, Dr. Boslough gave a big speech at the Starmus Festival in the Canary Islands. He talked about "death plunge" asteroids, which are space rocks that can suddenly become a danger to Earth.
Standing Up for Science
Mark Boslough is a strong supporter of science and often speaks out against pseudoscience (ideas that pretend to be scientific but aren't) and anti-science views. He has written about people who deny climate change and has helped uncover cases of scientific wrongdoing.
Using Humor to Teach
Dr. Boslough believes that humor can help defend science. In 1998, he played an April Fool's Day joke in a newsletter to make fun of a law that tried to make schools teach creationism (a non-scientific idea about how life began). He wrote that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of pi (a mathematical number) from 3.14159 to 3.0, calling it the "Biblical value."
This joke spread quickly online and caused a lot of confusion. People even called the Alabama legislature to complain before the joke was revealed! National Geographic News later featured his story as one of the most memorable hoaxes. The Museum of Hoaxes even put it at number seven on its "Top 100 April Fools Hoaxes of All Time" list. The story became an urban legend and had to be explained as a joke by websites like Snopes.
He also showed that some "Darwin Awards" lists, which describe funny ways people accidentally hurt themselves, include made-up stories. He once added his own silly, fake story to a list and sent it to his friends. That story also went viral and was even printed as a real event by a newspaper, leading to another explanation from Snopes.
Protecting Property Rights
Dr. Boslough has also worked to change old laws, like one called RS 2477. This law could be used to take private land for public use. He fought a long battle to protect his own property from off-road vehicle clubs. He used his experiences to argue that people should be paid if pollution, like carbon emissions, harms their property or health.
See also
- Indiana Pi Bill
