<
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/12/science/jonathan-mcdowell-retirement-space.html>
"Jonathan McDowell is a go-to expert for all things spaceflight. Thousands of
subscribers read his monthly
Space Report, and far more people have seen him
on cable news and other media platforms explaining unexpected events in orbit.
But that has always been his side gig: For 37 years, Dr. McDowell has been a
specialist in X-ray astronomy at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics. Earlier this year he announced he was retiring from the role, and
also leaving the United States for Britain.
The decision was prompted in part, he said, by ongoing pressures on the federal
science budget, made more complicated by policy changes since President Trump’s
inauguration.
“It just doesn’t seem like the opportunities are going to be there to be an
effective scientist, and an effective person building the science community, in
the U.S. anymore,” Dr. McDowell said. “I just don’t feel as proud to be an
American as I used to be.”
Born with dual citizenship in the United States and Britain, Dr. McDowell
joined the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in 1988 and leads the
science data systems group there for NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, a space
telescope in its 26th year.
In the next phase of his career, Dr. McDowell said, he wants to devote more
time to documenting what’s happening in space.
With an accent that he joked is becoming decidedly more British as he prepares
to move abroad, Dr. McDowell spoke with
The New York Times about what drives
his passion for space. This conversation has been edited for brevity and
clarity."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
