Shawn Carlson, Ph.D.

Educator / Science Writer / Physicist

July, 2002

SUMMARY

Shawn Carlson is a passionate and innovative scientist, educator, entrepreneur and a widely known science writer.

Shawn earned his Ph.D. in nuclear physics at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1989, and then accepted a joint research appointment at the University of California at Berkeley's Center for Particle Astrophysics and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's Division of Space Sciences. There he ran the Leuschner Observatory, was chief observer for the Berkeley Automated Supernova Search, and headed up the search for Nemesis-- the postulated companion star to our sun that may have induced the asteroid shower that killed the dinosaurs.

In 1994 Shawn left academia to found the Society for Amateur Scientists (SAS), a non-profit educational and research organization dedicated to helping everyday people get personally involved in scientific discovery. SAS publishes the secrets of hands-on science in a quarterly journal, and provides access to the necessary materials of scientific research. SAS also sponsors its own research projects. Today he still serves as the society's Executive Director.

In 1995, Scientific American magazine selected Shawn to take over their long-running and widely-read feature called "The Amateur Scientist." His monthly columns were read by over one million people and provided amateur scientists of all ages with enough detailed how-to secrets of research to allow ambitious amateurs to make original discoveries. The column ended its seventy three year run in the magazine in March, 2001. Also in 1995 Shawn joined the faculty of San Diego State University as an Adjunct Professor of Physics.

In 1997 Shawn completed Core Concepts in Physics, a college-level physics textbook on CD-ROM published by Saunders Publications. This innovative teaching aid was the first truly multi-media physics textbook. It used animation, video and voiceover so dynamically that the material could not be translated to paper. Shawn's break-through concepts in computer-aided teaching have been widely praised. One highly successful textbook author declared Core Concepts to be "destined to become a staple in physics instruction."

In 1998 Shawn co-founded Tinkers Guild, a company dedicated to making how-to science information widely available. In 2000, Tinkers Guild released The Amateur Scientist-The Complete 20th Century Collection on CD-ROM which Shawn edited. The product details over 1,000 amateur science projects. This new breakthrough product has also been highly praised for its staggering range of topics and its innovative approach to giving the reader nearly instant access to all the information on the CD. This company is run by his partner, Dr. Sheldon Greaves.

Shawn is also a veteran of many battles against pseudo science. In 1985 he published in Nature magazine a study that is considered by many to be the definitive test of astrologers' abilities. The study soundly refuted astrology. Since then he has been active with the James Randi Education Foundation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and with the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) in Buffalo, New York. He has been particularly concerned about protecting the public from charlatans who use believers' sincere religious faith against them. He worked under James Randi to help expose a Peter Popoff, then a popular TV evangelist, pretended to be gifted with divine inspiration about his audience members but was actually receiving secret signals through a tiny radio hidden in his ear. Shawn then duplicated the so-called miracle of the crying icon in both paintings and statues. And he lead a five-year investigation into allegations of Satanic crime and in 1989 published a detailed report titled "Satanism in America, How the Devil Got Much More Than His Due." This report has been credited by the FBI as helping to quell what was then a rising tide of hysteria about the influence of Satanists in our society.

In 1999 Shawn Carlson was honored for his achievements with the prestigious MacArthur Foundation "genius" Fellowship. His work continues to attract attention. In 2001 he was profiled in Dan Rather's book The American Dream (Harper Collins Pubs., May), in the New York Times Tuesday Science Section (January 21) in Parade Magazine (May 6), and in Scientific Conservations (Time Books, October).

CURRENT PROJECTS

The Amateur Scientist's Workshop
Shawn is developing a television show to bring the secrets of hands-on science to the genearl public. If the show is picked up, Shawn will host it.

Chasing Franklin's Kite--True stories of ordinary people who've made extraordinary scientific discoveries
Shawn is also writing a that book will profile about thirty ordinary Americans who have made extraordinary scientific discoveries. Chasing Franklin's Kite has been purchased by Little, Brown and Company, a subsiderary of Time Warner.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. Nuclear Physics UC Los Angeles 1989
MS Physics UC Los Angeles 1983
BS Physics UC Berkeley 1981
BS Applied Mathematics UC Berkeley 1981

SCIENCE POPULARIST / EDUCATOR

SOCIETY FOR AMATEUR SCIENTISTS

Founder/Executive Director
Shawn left academic research in 1994 to found the Society for Amateur Scientists (SAS); the world's only non-profit educational and research organization dedicated to promoting the activities of amateur scientists in every field of science possible. SAS volunteers have included Nobel Prize winners, members of the National Academy of Sciences, university professors from around the world, as well as hundreds of everyday people from all walks of life who want to get personally involved in real research. Today SAS has over two thousand members.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, COLUMNIST

Shawn ran "The Amateur Scientist" department for Scientific American magazine from November 1995 through the column's end in Scientific American in March, 2001. Each column gave amateur scientists of all ages detailed how-to information about doing real research. The goal of each article was to provide ambitious amateurs with enough information to enable them to make original scientific discoveries. Shawn's column inspires thousands of science projects each year. Shawn's column had over one million monthly readers.

TEXTBOOK AUTHOR

Core Concepts in Physics, Harcourt Brace, 1998
Shawn wrote a CD-ROM textbook for Harcourt Brace. This first-of-its-kind multi-media product uses the power of the computer to teach college-level physics (with calculus) as never before possible. Shawn conceived the educational approach and established the content for the entire product. He designed all of the media, wrote all voice-overs and text for 11 of 14 chapters and oversaw the development of the remaining three chapters. Shawn invented the "talking equations" concept in which key mathematical expressions are translated into systematically English to make the plain the relationships between the concepts and they are expressed using mathematical symbols.

HOW-TO SCIENCE BOOK EDITOR

Shawn's various of collections of articles devoted to amateur science. Two books as a series from John Wiley and Sons publishers, and a massive anthology on CD-ROM were all derived from "The Amateur Scientist" column. The CD-ROM was published by Tinkers Guild and contains every "Amateur Scientist" column published-that's over one thousand projects covering every field of science. The CD also contains an extensive software library, as well as over one thousand additional pages of hard-to-find how-to information that never appeared in Scientific American. It has been widely praised as the best single resource for hands-on science enthusiasts ever compiled.

ADVISOR ON SCIENCE EDUCATION

Shawn was an advisor to the National Science Teacher's Association on both Dragonfly TV and Dragonfly Guild for Parents and Families. He was also an advisor to the National Science Foundation on the Mars-Link; a program designed to get amateur scientists involved in analyzing data from Martian probes. In 1996 Shawn was chosen to be one of approximately 60 science educators from around the country to attend a conference about exploring how students and scientists can become real partners in research. Shawn continues to be an advocate for scientist, teacher, student, community partnerships.

THE HUMANIST, COLUMNIST

Shawn (1990-1992) wrote "Science on Society" for The Humanist. His columns focused on how science affects everyone's life and speculated on how new discoveries may alter how we think about ourselves and our world.

CONSULTANT TO THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Shawn has served as a consultant for the California Department of Education to evaluate fringe science claims which occasionally penetrate secondary school classrooms.

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES / REPORTS

He was the principle author of a research report which summarized the conclusions of an investigative team which he chaired for the Committee for Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER) on satanic crime in America.

ENTREPRENURE

Tinkers Guild, Co-Founder
In 1998 Shawn co-founded Tinkers Guild with Sheldon Greaves, Ph.D. Together, Carlson and Greaves raised $100,000 in advertising capital to create The Amateur Scientist on CD-ROM which Shawn edited. The CD sold 1500 copies through Web sales in its first four months. The product is currently being represented by Ingram, a large software distributor, and will likely achieve nationwide release through several major retail chains during the first quarter of 2001. Tinkers Guild also is developing other products, including CD-ROMs catering to the needs of amateur astronomers, science fair students, science educators, and home-school families.

MEDIA EXPERIENCE

Shawn's various research and education projects have been featured in over 100 publications. He has given dozens of interviews to newspapers, as well as radio and television shows. His national media appearances include (partial list) Newshour with Jim Lear, Donahue, 48 Hours, CNN News, Good Morning America, All Things Considered, Science Friday, What Do You Know?, Quirks and Quarks, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, US News & World Report, and Parade Magazine.

POPULAR ARTICLES

THE AMATEUR SCIENTIST, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

2001
"Geotropism One Last Time" March
"A Homebrew Cosmic Ray Detector" February
"A Canteen Cloud Chamber" January

2000
"Calibrating with Cold" December
"Boids of a Feather Flock Together" November
"Down Among the Micrograms" October
"Using a Kite as an Experimental Platform" September
"How to Rear a Plankton Menagerie" August
"PCR at Home" July
"Home is Where the ECG Is" June
"Fun with Flat Fluids" May
"A Furnace in a Thermos" April
"An Automated Precision Magnetometer" March
"Gamma Ray Bursts Come Home" February
"Detecting Extraterrestrial Gravity" January

1999
"Falling into Chaos" November
"Modeling the Atomic Universe" October
"Observing Atmospheric Ions" September
"Sun of a Gun" August
"Detecting the Earth's Electric Field" July
"Expert Secrets of Preserving Plants" June
"Hot Views of the Microscopic World" May
"Detecting 'Hot' Clouds" April
"Home-Made Millikelvin Thermometer" March
"Tackling the Triple Point" February
"Taking the Earth's Magnetic Pulse" January

1998
"Sorting Molecules with Electricity" December
"Floating a Challenge" November
"Spying on an Invisible World" October
"Spooling the Stuff of Life" September
"Building a Consciousness of Streams" August
"A Year for the Ocean" July
"Detecting Subtle Tsunamis" June
"Waiter, There's a Hair in My Hygrometer" May
"Experiments Out of Thin Air" April
"The Pleasures of Pond Scum" March
"Bird Watching by the Numbers" February
"A Kitchen Centrifuge" January

1997
"Taking Back the Final Frontier" December
"Caught in a Wind Tunnel" November
"Recording the Sounds of Life" October
"The Mysteries of Migrating Monarchs" September
"Getting a Charge Out of Rain" August
"How-to's of Butterfly Rookeries" July
"Getting Inside an Ant's Head" June
"When Hazy Skies are Rising" May
"The Joys of Armchair Ornithology" April
"Algorithm of the Gods" March
"A Picture Perfect Comet" February
"Catching a Comet by Its Tail" January

1996
"Dissecting the Brain with Sound" December
"Much Ado About Nothing" November
"Working in a Vacuum" October
"The Pleasure of Exploring Ponds" September
"Detecting Micron-Sized Movements" August
"Covert Observations of Nesting Sparrows" July
"Homemade Microgram Electrobalance" June
"Detecting Natural Electromagnetic Waves" May
"The New Backyard Seismology" April
"Exploring Chemical Bonds" March
"Growing Seedlings at Less than One g" February
"Recording Nature's Sounds" January

1995
"Measuring the Metabolism of Small Organisms" December
"Measuring the Wind with Hot Metal" November

"SCIENCE AND SOCIETY," THE HUMANIST:

1992
"Radiation and Cancer- Part II" September/October
"Radiation and Cancer" July/August
"Science on God" May/June
"Death in the Rain Forests" March/April
"Slaves to Freedom" January/February

1991
"SETI on Earth" September/October
"Methuselah's Phone Number" July/August
"Virtual Mars" March/April
"Unnatural Man" January/February

1990
"Poisons on Your Plate" November/December
"A Super Collider?" September/October

REPORTS/BOOK REVIEWS/LETTERS

"Amateurs Take On the Universe", Review of Seeing in the Dark by Timothy Ferris, Scientific American, September 2002

"Long Live D.Y.I.", Scientific American, Letters Dept., Septermber 2002

"Jefferson's Ballance?", Skeptical Inquirer, Letters Dept, May/June 2002

"A Billion Good Things", Invited tribute to Carl Sagan, Skeptical Inquirer, January/February 1997

"Statement Against Creationism in the Classroom," pg. 73-74 Voices for Evolution, NCSE, 1995 0-939873-53-2

"Virtual Mars?", Ad Astra, January/February, 1993

"Giving the Devil More Than His Due", Review of Painted Black by Carl Rashke, The Humanist, March/April, 1991

"The Push-Gravity Ideas of Walter C. Wright", Commissioned report for the California Department of Education, 1988

Dr. Carlson's article "Death in the Rain Forests" was selected for inclusion in The Blair Reader, published by Blair Press/Prentice Hall, 1998 and 2000. The Blair Reader is a collection of essays selected by university professors to provide college students with examples of outstanding rhetoric.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES

"Preliminary Estimate of Core Collapse Supernova Rates From the Berkeley Automated Supernova Search", Santa Monica Astropart, pp. 477-482, 1990. with C. Pennypacker, S. Perlmitter, R. A. Muller, B. Hamilton, C. Smith, T. Sasseen, H. Marvin, LP Wang, F. Crawford, R. Treffers, S. Bludman

Various IAU telegrams announcing the discovery of supernovae.

"Subthreshold Production of K+, K-, and antiprotons in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions," UCLA University Publications, 1989

"Astrology," Experientia, Vol. 44, pp. 290-297, 1988

"Upper Limit on the Charge of Electron Antineutrinos from Supernova 1987A," LBL Preprint, 1987

"Sub-threshold Production of K- in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions at Bevalac Energies," with J. Carroll et. al., Relativistic Heavy Ion Interactions, APS Conference Proceedings, 25.70 NP, 1987

"Subthreshold Production of Strange Hadrons in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions," with S. Trentalange, et. al., Intersections Between Particle and Nuclear Physics, AIP Conference Proceedings, Amer. Inst. Physics, 150 pp. 814-821, 1986

"A Double-Blind Test of Astrology," Nature, Vol. 318, pp. 419-425, 1985

"Electrostatic Gating of the Time Projection Chamber," with P. Odonne and P. Newman, LBL Preprint, 1981

BOOKS / CD-ROMS

Scientific American's "The Amateur Scientist," the Complete Collection Version 2 CD-ROM S. Carlson, Editor, Tinkers Guild, 2002, ISBN 0-9703476-2-6

The Amateur Astronomer, The Ultimate Resource CD-ROM. S. Carlson. Editor, Tinkers Guild, 2001.

The Amateur Biologist, S. Carlson Editor, Wiley and Sons, 2001

The Amateur Astronomer, S. Carlson Editor, Wiley and Sons, 2000 ISBN 0-471-38282-5

Scientific American's "The Amateur Scientist," the Complete Collection CD-ROM S. Carlson, Editor, Tinkers Guild, 2000, ISBN 0-9703476-0-X

Core Concepts in Physics CD-ROMs S. Carlson, Saunders Publishing, 1998 ISBN 0-03-023507-3

Satanism in America- How the Devil Got Much More than His Due, with Gerry O'Sullivan, Gerry Larue, April Masche, and Donald H. Frew, Gaia Press, 1989

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

American Astronomical Association
National Association of Science Writers
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Sigma-Xi

AWARDS /CITATIONS

2002 Biography selected for 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century
2002 Biography selected for Who's Who in America
2001 Profiled in Scientific Conservations, by Claudia Dreifus, Times Books
2001 Profiled in The American Dream, by Dan Rather, Harper Collins, May.
2001 Profiled in Parade Magazine (May 6)
2001 Profiled in New York Times Science Section (January 21)
2001 Biography selected for Who's Who in America
2000 Named "Headliner of the Year", San Diego Press Club, Award for promoting science literacy.
2000 Community Appreciation Award, San Diego State University. Given for service to the University and local communities.
1999 MacArthur Fellowship, John D. and Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Grant: $290,000 Given in part for creating and developing the Society for Amateur Scientists.

MISCELLANEOUS

Shawn is a certified scuba diver who earned his way through college as a professional magician. Before college he was a District Champion in impromptu speaking two years running, an Eagle scout, and a student body president. He is 42 years old and is married to Michelle Tetreault, a Ph.D. biophysicist and inventor. He is the father of Katherine Joanne, age four, and Erik Philip, age three.