This Monday morning, I had a delightful email from an old friend I hadn’t talked to in ages. Norm Sperling, well known astronomy enthusiast, editor, writer, and intellectual, was in the area, and he ended up having lunch with the Astronomy staff today.
Back in the day, Norm was an editor at Sky & Telescope magazine in Boston, and he has been a tireless promoter of astronomy to people of all ages. Aside from teaching at the University of California-Berkeley, serving as the editor of the Journal of Irreproducible Results, and being a dad to two boys, Norm has kept busy by traveling the countryside, helping to promote astronomy.
He has a big announcement set for this fall that involves one of his creations from 40 years ago, the Astroscan telescope.
When I was a teenager and first publishing Deep Sky Monthly, it was Norm who published a photo of me and my dad in Sky & Telescope, giving the small publication its first national publicity.
What a joy to see Norm again!
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