The Citizen Scientist Home Page

GALLERY

Storm damage
Jim Hannon
Forrest M. Mims III

Jim Hannon sent this photo of a large elm tree (genus Ulmus) downed by a wind storm around 2:00 AM on 23 May 2004 in Linn County, Iowa. Jim writes, "Some of the other elm trees on the property are dying, maybe from Dutch elm disease. More.

COLUMNS

Classics: "The Amateur Scientist Classics"
Measuring Micrograms
Shawn Carlson

Forrest Mims' World of Science
by Forrest M. Mims III

Editorial: The citizen scientist's most important tool by Forrest M. Mims III

Mind of a Theorist: What is heat?
George E. Hrabovsky, President, MAST

Puzzle 'Toons by Brian Mansfield

Wanderings with Ralph Coppola

Mathematics Corner: What is Function?
George E. Hrabovsky, President, MAST

Eye on the Sky: Eye on the Sky October/November 2004 by Paul Curtin

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NEWS

Amateur photographs the lunar eclipse

Elapsed time series of the lunar eclipse

The electrifying science of Sam Barros

Wanted: Contributions to The Citizen Scientist

Backscatter. Views and responses from TCS readers.

FEATURES

A radio astronomy system for observing the sun
Jeffrey M. Lichtman

This project was conceived while I was studying astronomy in the 1970s at Suffolk Community College and the Vanderbilt Planetarium.

For a semester project, I thought of correlating visual solar events with the associated radio components. This would be an easy project, since there was a lot of data on solar events. Thus, the sun would be an easy object to study. More.

Dig into the GLOBE Soil Moisture Campaign
Martha P. L. Whitaker,
GLOBE Soil Moisture Research Scientist
The University of Arizona

Soil moisture content is an incredibly important aspect of natural science. It is critical to plants, it determines how soils absorb water that can cause flooding, and it can even affect local weather patterns by helping keep the soil cool. More.

PRODUCTS

The Sun and Sky Monitoring Station by Forrest M. Mims III.

An excellent product for beginning scientists, seasoned amateurs (or even professionals) looking for a new challenge, or someone trying to come up with a reasonably self-contained science fair project. Briefly stated, this kit gives one the instrumentation needed to track accurately the total sunlight in a given time period, measure haze and water vapor in the atmosphere.

Click here to order.