Steven J Dick
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Publications by theme
History of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate
Plurality of Worlds: The Origins of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate from Democritus to Kant (Cambridge University Press, 1982; paperback edition, 1984; French translation La Pluralite des mondes , 1989).
The Biological Universe: The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate and the Limits of Science (Cambridge University Press, May, 1996). Paper edition, Nov. 1999. Main Selection, Astronomy Book Club.
Life on Other Worlds The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate (abridgement and update of The Biological Universe), Cambridge University Press, 1998. Translations in Chinese, Italian, Polish, Czech and Greek.
(with James Strick), The Living Universe: NASA and the Development of Astrobiology (Rutgers U. Press, 2004)
“The Origins of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate and Its Relations to the Scientific Revolution," Journal of the History of Ideas, 41 (January-March 1980), 1.
"The Extraterrestrial Life Debate: Historical Perspectives," Southern Stars: Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand, 31 (1985), 202-08.
“The Early History of Cosmic Communication and Its Implications for Interstellar Message Design,” in Between Worlds: The Art and Science of Interstellar Message Composition, ed. Douglas Vakoch (MIT Press, forthcoming, 2010)
"From the Physical World to the Biological Universe: Historical Developments Underlying SETI," Bioastronomy: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life - The Exploration Broadens, Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Bioastronomy Held at Val Cenis, France, 18-23 June, 1990, Jean Heidmann and Michael Klein, eds. (Berlin, 1991).
"Plurality of Worlds," in Norris S. Hetherington, ed., Encyclopedia of Cosmology: Historical, Philosophical and Scientific Foundations of Modern Cosmology, Garland Publishing.
"The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the NASA High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS): Historical Perspectives," Space Science Reviews, 64 (1993), 93-139.
"Back to the Future: SETI Before the Space Age," The Planetary Report (January-February, 1995).
“From Exobiology to Astrobiology, 1958-1998,” in Planets and Life: The Emerging Science of Astrobiology, eds. John Baross and Woodruff T. Sullivan III (Cambridge U Press, 2007), pp. 46-65.
“Origins and Development of NASA’s Exobiology Program, 1958-1976,” Acta Astronautica, 65 (2009), 1-5.
Societal Aspects of Astrobiology
Many Worlds: The New Universe, Extraterrestrial Life and the Theological Implications (Templeton Press, 2000)
"The Concept of Extraterrestrial Intelligence - An Emerging Cosmology," Planetary Report , 9 (March-April, 1989), 13-17.
"Consequences of Success in SETI: Lessons from the History of Science," Progress in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life, Seth Shostak, ed. (Proceedings of Santa Cruz meeting on SETI, August, 1993; ASP Conference series, 1995), 521-532.
"Other Worlds: The Cultural Significance of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate," Vatican Conference on the Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena, 27 June - 2 July, 1994, Leonardo, 29, no. 2 (1996), pp. 133-137.
"The Biophysical Cosmology: The Place of Bioastronomy in the History of Science," in Astronomical and Biochemical Origins and the Search for Life in the Universe, edited by C.B. Cosmovici, S. Bowyer and D. Werthimer (Italy, 1997), 785-88.
"Cultural Aspects of Astrobiology: A Preliminary Reconnaissance at the Turn of the Millennium", in Bioastronomy 99: A New Era in Bioastronomy, Guillermo Lemarchand and Karen Meech, eds. (San Francisco, 2000).
“Extraterrestrials and Objective Knowledge,” in When SETI Succeeds: The Impact of High-Information Contact, Allen Tough, ed. (Bellevue, Washington, 2000).
“Cosmotheology: Theological Implications of the New Universe,” in Many Worlds: The New Universe, Extraterrestrial Life and the Theological Implications, ed. S. J. Dick (Philadelphia and London, 2000), 191-210.
(with A. Harrison, J. Billingham et al.) “The Role of the Social Sciences in SETI,” in When SETI Succeeds, Allen Tough, ed. (Bellevue, Washington, 2000), 71-85.
“Extraterrestrial Life and our World View at the Turn of the Millennium,” Dibner Library Lecture, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D. C., 2000)
FULL TEXT at https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/7191/extraterrestrial.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
“Cultural Evolution, the Postbiological Universe, and SETI,” International Journal of Astrobiology, 2 (2003), 65-74. Reprinted in Cosmos and Culture, Steven J. Dick and Mark L. Lupisella, eds (NASA History series, 2009).
FULL TEXT at Chapter 14 of http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4802.pdf
"The New Universe, Destiny of Life, and the Cultural Implications," in J. Seckbach et al. (eds.), Life in the Universe: From the Miller Experiment to the Search for Life on Other Worlds (Kluwer: Dordrecht, 2004), 319-326.
"The Biological Universe Revisited," in The New Astronomy: Opening the Electromagnetic Window and Expanding our View of Planet Earth, Wayne Orchiston, ed. (Springer: 2005), 15-26.
"Anthropology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence," Anthropology Today, 22 (April, 2006), 3-7.
“Don’t Expect ET to be Like Us,” New Scientist, 198 (May 31, 2008), 21.
“Cosmology and Biology,” Proceedings of the 2008 Conference on the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers, June 29-July 2, 2008 (NRAO, Green Bank, West Virginia), pp. 1-15
“The Postbiological Universe,” Acta Astronautica, 62 (April-May, 2008), 499-504.
“Could Robot Aliens Exist?” Popular Science (2008)
(with Stephen J. Garber and James I. Deutsch), “NASA: Fifty Years and Beyond,” Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2008, pp. 34-53.
“The Postbiological Universe and our Future in Space,” Futures, 41 (2009), 578-580
“A Historical Perspective on the Extent and Search for Life,” Exploring the Origin, Extent, and Future of Life: Philosophical, Ethical and Theological Perspectives, in Connie Bertka, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 167-185.
“Space, Time and Aliens: The Role of Imagination in Outer Space,” in Imagining Outer Space: European Astroculture in the Twentieth Century, Alexander T. Geppert, ed. (Palgrave-MacMillan: New York, 2012).
“Critical Issues in the History, Philosophy and Sociology of Astrobiology,” Astrobiology, 12, (2012), 906-927.
“Cosmic Evolution: the Context for Astrobiology and its Cultural Implications,” International Journal of Astrobiology, (2012), **, from lecture at astrobiology meeting in Sao Paolo Brazil, based on Dick and Lupisella (2009).
“Astrobiology and Society: Building An Interdisciplinary Research Community,” (Margaret Race, Kathryn Denning, Connie Bertka, Steven Dick, Albert Harrison, Christopher Impey, Rocco Mancinelli, and Workshop Participants), Astrobiology 12 (2012), 958-965.
Congressional Testimony before Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, Dec. 4, 2013.
“The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate: Major Themes and Lessons Learned,” in Astrobiology, History and Society: Life Beyond Earth and the Impact of Discovery Douglas A. Vakoch, ed. (Springer: Heidelberg, 2013), pp. 133-175.
“The Societal Impact of Extraterrestrial Life: The Relevance of History and the Social Sciences,” in Astrobiology, History and Society: Life Beyond Earth and the Impact of Discovery Douglas A. Vakoch, ed. (Spinger: Heidelberg, 2013), pp. 227-257.
“The Role of Anthropology in SETI: A Historical View,” in Archaeology, Anthropology and Interstellar Communication, ed. Douglas A. Vakoch (NASA, Washington, D.C, 2014), online at https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/Archaeology_Anthropology_and_Interstellar_Communication_TAGGED.pdf
“Analogy and the Societal Implications of Astrobiology,” Astropolitics: The International Journal of Space Politics & Policy, 12:2-3 (2014), 210-230, DOI: 10.1080/14777622.2014.964132 at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14777622.2014.964132
“Foreword,” to Clement Vidal, The Beginning and the End: The Meaning of Life an a Cosmological Perspective (Springer: Heidelberg and New York, 2014), pp. ix-xi.
“The Drake Equation in Context,” Introduction to The Drake Equation: Estimating the Prevalence of Extraterrestrial Life Through the Ages (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2015), pp. 1-20.
The Impact of Discovering Life Beyond Earth (Cambridge University Press, 2015).
“Humanistic Implications of Discovering Life Beyond Earth,” in Handbook of Astrobiology, Vera Kolb, ed. (CRC Press, 2018).
“Toward a Constructive Naturalistic Cosmotheology,” in Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Life, Ted Peters, ed. (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2018), pp. 228-244.
Astrobiology, Discovery, and Societal Impact (Cambridge University Press, 2018). Winner of the PROSE Award.
"Astrobiology and Society: An Overview," in Social and Conceptual Issues in Astrobiology, Kelly C. Smith and Carlos Mariscal, eds. (Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press, 2020).
"Societal Aspects of Astrobiology and the Impact of Discovering Life Beyond Earth," in New Quests in Stellar Astrophysics (2020)
Space, Time, and Aliens: Collected Works on Cosmos and Culture (Springer, 2020)
History of Astronomy
(with Leroy Doggett), Sky with Ocean Joined: Proceedings of the Sesquicentennial Symposia of the U. S. Naval Observatory, December 5 and 8, 1980 (U. S. Naval Observatory, 1983).
Sky and Ocean Joined: The U. S. Naval Observatory, 1830-2000 (Cambridge University Press, 2003).
(with Dennis McCarthy), Polar Motion: Historical and Scientific Problems, IAU Colloquium 178 (Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2000)
(with Alan Fiala), Proceedings of the Sesquicentennial Symposium of the American Nautical Almanac Office (U. S. Naval Observatory, 1999)
"Pulkovo Observatory and the National Observatory Movement," Inertial Coordinate Systems on the Sky, Proceedings of International Astronomical Union Symposium 141, Leningrad, October 17-21, 1989, Jay H. Lieske and Victor K. Abalakin, eds. (Dordrecht, 1990).
Guest Editor, "National Observatories: Origins and Functions," special issue of Journal for the History of Astronomy , 22 ( February 1991).
"National Observatories: An Overview," Journal for the History of Astronomy , 22 (February, 1991), 1-4.
"John Quincy Adams, the Smithsonian Bequest, and the Origins of the U. S. Naval Observatory," Journal for the History of Astronomy , 22 (February, 1991), 31-44.
"Centralizing Navigational Technology in America: The U. S. Navy's Depot of Charts and Instruments, 1830-42" Technology and Culture, (July, 1992), 43 pages.
"Astrometry," in History of Astronomy: An Encyclopedia, edited by J. A. Lankford (Garland Publishing, 1997), 47-60.
"United States Naval Observatory," in History of Astronomy: An Encyclopedia, edited by J. A. Lankford (Garland Publishing, 1997), 535-37.
"Catalogues, Astronomical," in History of Astronomy: An Encyclopedia, edited by J. A. Lankford (Garland Publishing, 1997), 125-27.
(with Wayne Orchiston and Tom Love), "Simon Newcomb, William Harkness and the Nineteenth Century American Transit of Venus Expeditions," Journal for the History of Astronomy, 29 (1998), 221-255.
"Observation and Interpretation of the Leonid Meteors over the Last Millennium," Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 1 (1998), 120.
“History of the American Nautical Almanac Office,” in Proceedings Nautical Almanac Office Sesquicentennial Symposium, A. Fiala and S. J. Dick, eds. (Washington, D.C., 1999), 11-53.
“Polar Motion: A Historical Overview on the Occasion of the Centennial of the International Latitude Service,” in Polar Motion: Historical and Scientific Problems, S. J. Dick, D. McCarthy and B. Luzum, eds (San Francisco, 2000), 3-23.
(with Wayne Orchiston and Tom Love), “Refining the Astronomical Unit: Queenstown and the 1874 Transit of Venus,” Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 3 (2000)
"The Transit of Venus," Scientific American, 290, no. 5 (May, 2004), 99-105.
"The American Transit of Venus Expeditions of 1874 and 1882," in D. W. Kurtz, ed., Transits of Venus: New Views of the Solar System and the Galaxy, IAU Colloquium 196 (Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 100-110.
“Geodesy, Time, and the Markowitz Moon Camera Program: An Interwoven IGY Story,” in Globalizing Polar Science: Reconsidering the Social and Intellectual Implications of the International Polar and Geophysical Years, edited by Roger D. Launius, James R. Fleming, and David H. DeVorkin (Palgrave MacMillan: New York, 2010)
Discovery and Classification in Astronomy: Controversy and Consensus (Cambridge University Press, 2013).
Classifying the Cosmos: How We Can Make Sense of the Celestial Landscape (Springer, 2019)
History of Spaceflight
(with Keith Cowing), Risk and Exploration: Earth, Sea and Stars (NASA SP-2005-4701 (Washington, D.C., 2005)
FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4701/riskandexploration.pdf
(with Roger Launius), Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight
(NASA SP 4702 (Washington, D.C., 2006).
FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/SP-2006-4702/frontmatter.pdf
(with Neil Armstrong et al.), America in Space: NASA’s First Fifty Years, (Abrams: New York, 2007).
Remembering the Space Age (NASA SP- 2008-4703)
FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/Remembering_Space_Age_A.pdf
http://history.nasa.gov/Remembering_Space_Age_B.pdf
http://history.nasa.gov/Remembering_Space_Age_C.pdf
NASA’s First 50 Years: Historical Perspectives (NASA SP 2010-4704). FULL TEXT at https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4704.pdf
“The Impact of the Hubble Space Telescope,” Introduction to Part 3 of Hubble’s Legacy: Reflections by Those Who Dreamed it, Built It, and Observed the Universe with It,” Roger Launius and David DeVorkin, eds. (Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press: Washington, D.C., 2014), pp. 74-78, online at https://opensi.si.edu/index.php/smithsonian/catalog/book/57
“The Decision to Cancel the Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4 (and its Reversal),” in Hubble’s Legacy: Reflections by Those Who Dreamed it, Built It, and Observed the Universe with It,” Roger Launius and David DeVorkin, eds. (Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press: Washington, D.C., 2014), pp.151-189, online at https://opensi.si.edu/index.php/smithsonian/catalog/book/57
Historical Studies in the Societal Impact of Spaceflight (NASA, 2018)
Science and Society
(with Roger Launius), Societal Impact of Spaceflight (NASA SP 4801
(Washington, D.C., 2007)
FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/sp4801-part1.pdf and
http://history.nasa.gov/sp4801-part2.pdf
(with Mark Lupisella), Cosmos and Culture: Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context (NASA SP 2009-4802). FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4802.pdf
“History, Culture and Human Destiny,” in Cosmos and Culture: Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context (NASA SP 2009-4802), pp. 25-62.
FULL TEXT at Chapter 2 of http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4802.pdf
“Exploration, Discovery and Culture: NASA’s Role in History,” in Steven J. Dick, ed., NASA’s First 50 Years: Historical Perspectives (NASA SP 2010-4704).
Historical Studies in the Societal Impact of Spaceflight (NASA, 2018)
Genealogy & Memoir
Stardust Memories: A Dick Family History and Memoir (self published, 2019), available here https://repository.aip.org/islandora/object/nbla%3A287576
Plurality of Worlds: The Origins of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate from Democritus to Kant (Cambridge University Press, 1982; paperback edition, 1984; French translation La Pluralite des mondes , 1989).
The Biological Universe: The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate and the Limits of Science (Cambridge University Press, May, 1996). Paper edition, Nov. 1999. Main Selection, Astronomy Book Club.
Life on Other Worlds The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate (abridgement and update of The Biological Universe), Cambridge University Press, 1998. Translations in Chinese, Italian, Polish, Czech and Greek.
(with James Strick), The Living Universe: NASA and the Development of Astrobiology (Rutgers U. Press, 2004)
“The Origins of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate and Its Relations to the Scientific Revolution," Journal of the History of Ideas, 41 (January-March 1980), 1.
"The Extraterrestrial Life Debate: Historical Perspectives," Southern Stars: Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand, 31 (1985), 202-08.
“The Early History of Cosmic Communication and Its Implications for Interstellar Message Design,” in Between Worlds: The Art and Science of Interstellar Message Composition, ed. Douglas Vakoch (MIT Press, forthcoming, 2010)
"From the Physical World to the Biological Universe: Historical Developments Underlying SETI," Bioastronomy: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life - The Exploration Broadens, Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Bioastronomy Held at Val Cenis, France, 18-23 June, 1990, Jean Heidmann and Michael Klein, eds. (Berlin, 1991).
"Plurality of Worlds," in Norris S. Hetherington, ed., Encyclopedia of Cosmology: Historical, Philosophical and Scientific Foundations of Modern Cosmology, Garland Publishing.
"The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the NASA High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS): Historical Perspectives," Space Science Reviews, 64 (1993), 93-139.
"Back to the Future: SETI Before the Space Age," The Planetary Report (January-February, 1995).
“From Exobiology to Astrobiology, 1958-1998,” in Planets and Life: The Emerging Science of Astrobiology, eds. John Baross and Woodruff T. Sullivan III (Cambridge U Press, 2007), pp. 46-65.
“Origins and Development of NASA’s Exobiology Program, 1958-1976,” Acta Astronautica, 65 (2009), 1-5.
Societal Aspects of Astrobiology
Many Worlds: The New Universe, Extraterrestrial Life and the Theological Implications (Templeton Press, 2000)
"The Concept of Extraterrestrial Intelligence - An Emerging Cosmology," Planetary Report , 9 (March-April, 1989), 13-17.
"Consequences of Success in SETI: Lessons from the History of Science," Progress in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life, Seth Shostak, ed. (Proceedings of Santa Cruz meeting on SETI, August, 1993; ASP Conference series, 1995), 521-532.
"Other Worlds: The Cultural Significance of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate," Vatican Conference on the Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena, 27 June - 2 July, 1994, Leonardo, 29, no. 2 (1996), pp. 133-137.
"The Biophysical Cosmology: The Place of Bioastronomy in the History of Science," in Astronomical and Biochemical Origins and the Search for Life in the Universe, edited by C.B. Cosmovici, S. Bowyer and D. Werthimer (Italy, 1997), 785-88.
"Cultural Aspects of Astrobiology: A Preliminary Reconnaissance at the Turn of the Millennium", in Bioastronomy 99: A New Era in Bioastronomy, Guillermo Lemarchand and Karen Meech, eds. (San Francisco, 2000).
“Extraterrestrials and Objective Knowledge,” in When SETI Succeeds: The Impact of High-Information Contact, Allen Tough, ed. (Bellevue, Washington, 2000).
“Cosmotheology: Theological Implications of the New Universe,” in Many Worlds: The New Universe, Extraterrestrial Life and the Theological Implications, ed. S. J. Dick (Philadelphia and London, 2000), 191-210.
(with A. Harrison, J. Billingham et al.) “The Role of the Social Sciences in SETI,” in When SETI Succeeds, Allen Tough, ed. (Bellevue, Washington, 2000), 71-85.
“Extraterrestrial Life and our World View at the Turn of the Millennium,” Dibner Library Lecture, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D. C., 2000)
FULL TEXT at https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/7191/extraterrestrial.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
“Cultural Evolution, the Postbiological Universe, and SETI,” International Journal of Astrobiology, 2 (2003), 65-74. Reprinted in Cosmos and Culture, Steven J. Dick and Mark L. Lupisella, eds (NASA History series, 2009).
FULL TEXT at Chapter 14 of http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4802.pdf
"The New Universe, Destiny of Life, and the Cultural Implications," in J. Seckbach et al. (eds.), Life in the Universe: From the Miller Experiment to the Search for Life on Other Worlds (Kluwer: Dordrecht, 2004), 319-326.
"The Biological Universe Revisited," in The New Astronomy: Opening the Electromagnetic Window and Expanding our View of Planet Earth, Wayne Orchiston, ed. (Springer: 2005), 15-26.
"Anthropology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence," Anthropology Today, 22 (April, 2006), 3-7.
“Don’t Expect ET to be Like Us,” New Scientist, 198 (May 31, 2008), 21.
“Cosmology and Biology,” Proceedings of the 2008 Conference on the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers, June 29-July 2, 2008 (NRAO, Green Bank, West Virginia), pp. 1-15
“The Postbiological Universe,” Acta Astronautica, 62 (April-May, 2008), 499-504.
“Could Robot Aliens Exist?” Popular Science (2008)
(with Stephen J. Garber and James I. Deutsch), “NASA: Fifty Years and Beyond,” Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2008, pp. 34-53.
“The Postbiological Universe and our Future in Space,” Futures, 41 (2009), 578-580
“A Historical Perspective on the Extent and Search for Life,” Exploring the Origin, Extent, and Future of Life: Philosophical, Ethical and Theological Perspectives, in Connie Bertka, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 167-185.
“Space, Time and Aliens: The Role of Imagination in Outer Space,” in Imagining Outer Space: European Astroculture in the Twentieth Century, Alexander T. Geppert, ed. (Palgrave-MacMillan: New York, 2012).
“Critical Issues in the History, Philosophy and Sociology of Astrobiology,” Astrobiology, 12, (2012), 906-927.
“Cosmic Evolution: the Context for Astrobiology and its Cultural Implications,” International Journal of Astrobiology, (2012), **, from lecture at astrobiology meeting in Sao Paolo Brazil, based on Dick and Lupisella (2009).
“Astrobiology and Society: Building An Interdisciplinary Research Community,” (Margaret Race, Kathryn Denning, Connie Bertka, Steven Dick, Albert Harrison, Christopher Impey, Rocco Mancinelli, and Workshop Participants), Astrobiology 12 (2012), 958-965.
Congressional Testimony before Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, Dec. 4, 2013.
“The Twentieth Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate: Major Themes and Lessons Learned,” in Astrobiology, History and Society: Life Beyond Earth and the Impact of Discovery Douglas A. Vakoch, ed. (Springer: Heidelberg, 2013), pp. 133-175.
“The Societal Impact of Extraterrestrial Life: The Relevance of History and the Social Sciences,” in Astrobiology, History and Society: Life Beyond Earth and the Impact of Discovery Douglas A. Vakoch, ed. (Spinger: Heidelberg, 2013), pp. 227-257.
“The Role of Anthropology in SETI: A Historical View,” in Archaeology, Anthropology and Interstellar Communication, ed. Douglas A. Vakoch (NASA, Washington, D.C, 2014), online at https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/Archaeology_Anthropology_and_Interstellar_Communication_TAGGED.pdf
“Analogy and the Societal Implications of Astrobiology,” Astropolitics: The International Journal of Space Politics & Policy, 12:2-3 (2014), 210-230, DOI: 10.1080/14777622.2014.964132 at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14777622.2014.964132
“Foreword,” to Clement Vidal, The Beginning and the End: The Meaning of Life an a Cosmological Perspective (Springer: Heidelberg and New York, 2014), pp. ix-xi.
“The Drake Equation in Context,” Introduction to The Drake Equation: Estimating the Prevalence of Extraterrestrial Life Through the Ages (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2015), pp. 1-20.
The Impact of Discovering Life Beyond Earth (Cambridge University Press, 2015).
“Humanistic Implications of Discovering Life Beyond Earth,” in Handbook of Astrobiology, Vera Kolb, ed. (CRC Press, 2018).
“Toward a Constructive Naturalistic Cosmotheology,” in Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Life, Ted Peters, ed. (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2018), pp. 228-244.
Astrobiology, Discovery, and Societal Impact (Cambridge University Press, 2018). Winner of the PROSE Award.
"Astrobiology and Society: An Overview," in Social and Conceptual Issues in Astrobiology, Kelly C. Smith and Carlos Mariscal, eds. (Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press, 2020).
"Societal Aspects of Astrobiology and the Impact of Discovering Life Beyond Earth," in New Quests in Stellar Astrophysics (2020)
Space, Time, and Aliens: Collected Works on Cosmos and Culture (Springer, 2020)
History of Astronomy
(with Leroy Doggett), Sky with Ocean Joined: Proceedings of the Sesquicentennial Symposia of the U. S. Naval Observatory, December 5 and 8, 1980 (U. S. Naval Observatory, 1983).
Sky and Ocean Joined: The U. S. Naval Observatory, 1830-2000 (Cambridge University Press, 2003).
(with Dennis McCarthy), Polar Motion: Historical and Scientific Problems, IAU Colloquium 178 (Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2000)
(with Alan Fiala), Proceedings of the Sesquicentennial Symposium of the American Nautical Almanac Office (U. S. Naval Observatory, 1999)
"Pulkovo Observatory and the National Observatory Movement," Inertial Coordinate Systems on the Sky, Proceedings of International Astronomical Union Symposium 141, Leningrad, October 17-21, 1989, Jay H. Lieske and Victor K. Abalakin, eds. (Dordrecht, 1990).
Guest Editor, "National Observatories: Origins and Functions," special issue of Journal for the History of Astronomy , 22 ( February 1991).
"National Observatories: An Overview," Journal for the History of Astronomy , 22 (February, 1991), 1-4.
"John Quincy Adams, the Smithsonian Bequest, and the Origins of the U. S. Naval Observatory," Journal for the History of Astronomy , 22 (February, 1991), 31-44.
"Centralizing Navigational Technology in America: The U. S. Navy's Depot of Charts and Instruments, 1830-42" Technology and Culture, (July, 1992), 43 pages.
"Astrometry," in History of Astronomy: An Encyclopedia, edited by J. A. Lankford (Garland Publishing, 1997), 47-60.
"United States Naval Observatory," in History of Astronomy: An Encyclopedia, edited by J. A. Lankford (Garland Publishing, 1997), 535-37.
"Catalogues, Astronomical," in History of Astronomy: An Encyclopedia, edited by J. A. Lankford (Garland Publishing, 1997), 125-27.
(with Wayne Orchiston and Tom Love), "Simon Newcomb, William Harkness and the Nineteenth Century American Transit of Venus Expeditions," Journal for the History of Astronomy, 29 (1998), 221-255.
"Observation and Interpretation of the Leonid Meteors over the Last Millennium," Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 1 (1998), 120.
“History of the American Nautical Almanac Office,” in Proceedings Nautical Almanac Office Sesquicentennial Symposium, A. Fiala and S. J. Dick, eds. (Washington, D.C., 1999), 11-53.
“Polar Motion: A Historical Overview on the Occasion of the Centennial of the International Latitude Service,” in Polar Motion: Historical and Scientific Problems, S. J. Dick, D. McCarthy and B. Luzum, eds (San Francisco, 2000), 3-23.
(with Wayne Orchiston and Tom Love), “Refining the Astronomical Unit: Queenstown and the 1874 Transit of Venus,” Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 3 (2000)
"The Transit of Venus," Scientific American, 290, no. 5 (May, 2004), 99-105.
"The American Transit of Venus Expeditions of 1874 and 1882," in D. W. Kurtz, ed., Transits of Venus: New Views of the Solar System and the Galaxy, IAU Colloquium 196 (Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 100-110.
“Geodesy, Time, and the Markowitz Moon Camera Program: An Interwoven IGY Story,” in Globalizing Polar Science: Reconsidering the Social and Intellectual Implications of the International Polar and Geophysical Years, edited by Roger D. Launius, James R. Fleming, and David H. DeVorkin (Palgrave MacMillan: New York, 2010)
Discovery and Classification in Astronomy: Controversy and Consensus (Cambridge University Press, 2013).
Classifying the Cosmos: How We Can Make Sense of the Celestial Landscape (Springer, 2019)
History of Spaceflight
(with Keith Cowing), Risk and Exploration: Earth, Sea and Stars (NASA SP-2005-4701 (Washington, D.C., 2005)
FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4701/riskandexploration.pdf
(with Roger Launius), Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight
(NASA SP 4702 (Washington, D.C., 2006).
FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/SP-2006-4702/frontmatter.pdf
(with Neil Armstrong et al.), America in Space: NASA’s First Fifty Years, (Abrams: New York, 2007).
Remembering the Space Age (NASA SP- 2008-4703)
FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/Remembering_Space_Age_A.pdf
http://history.nasa.gov/Remembering_Space_Age_B.pdf
http://history.nasa.gov/Remembering_Space_Age_C.pdf
NASA’s First 50 Years: Historical Perspectives (NASA SP 2010-4704). FULL TEXT at https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4704.pdf
“The Impact of the Hubble Space Telescope,” Introduction to Part 3 of Hubble’s Legacy: Reflections by Those Who Dreamed it, Built It, and Observed the Universe with It,” Roger Launius and David DeVorkin, eds. (Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press: Washington, D.C., 2014), pp. 74-78, online at https://opensi.si.edu/index.php/smithsonian/catalog/book/57
“The Decision to Cancel the Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4 (and its Reversal),” in Hubble’s Legacy: Reflections by Those Who Dreamed it, Built It, and Observed the Universe with It,” Roger Launius and David DeVorkin, eds. (Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press: Washington, D.C., 2014), pp.151-189, online at https://opensi.si.edu/index.php/smithsonian/catalog/book/57
Historical Studies in the Societal Impact of Spaceflight (NASA, 2018)
Science and Society
(with Roger Launius), Societal Impact of Spaceflight (NASA SP 4801
(Washington, D.C., 2007)
FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/sp4801-part1.pdf and
http://history.nasa.gov/sp4801-part2.pdf
(with Mark Lupisella), Cosmos and Culture: Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context (NASA SP 2009-4802). FULL TEXT at http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4802.pdf
“History, Culture and Human Destiny,” in Cosmos and Culture: Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context (NASA SP 2009-4802), pp. 25-62.
FULL TEXT at Chapter 2 of http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4802.pdf
“Exploration, Discovery and Culture: NASA’s Role in History,” in Steven J. Dick, ed., NASA’s First 50 Years: Historical Perspectives (NASA SP 2010-4704).
Historical Studies in the Societal Impact of Spaceflight (NASA, 2018)
Genealogy & Memoir
Stardust Memories: A Dick Family History and Memoir (self published, 2019), available here https://repository.aip.org/islandora/object/nbla%3A287576
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