Author Marianne Dyson's book, Home on the Moon, has been selected to receive the 2004 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award in the children's category.
The American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award consists of a $3,000 cash prize, an inscribed Windsor chair, and a certificate. The National Geographic Society will also receive a certificate of recognition as the publisher of the book. Dyson will receive the award at the 2005 American Association of Physics Teachers Winter Meeting in Albuquerque, NM on January 10, from Vice President of the Physics Resources Center, Dr. James H. Stith.
Inspired by the Apollo moon landings which she watched as a child, Marianne Dyson knows firsthand that space motivates kids to achieve. “I was so determined to be part of the space program that I worked extra hard to get good grades, especially in math.” She was the first woman in her family to graduate from college, earning a degree in physics cum laude from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She attended graduate school in Space Physics and Astronomy at Rice University, planning to become an astronomer. “A year into my studies, I took advantage of an opportunity to go work for NASA,” she said. “I was fortunate enough to become one of the first ten women flight controllers.” She left NASA to raise her children and now shares her passion for space with audiences of all ages through writing and presentations.
The AIP Science Writing Award is the second major award that Dyson has received. Her first book, Space Station Science, won the 2000 Golden Kite Award for best non-fiction children’s book of the year from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Originally published by Scholastic, a fully updated new edition of Space Station Science is now available in paperback from Windward Publishing.
A frequent contributor to Odyssey magazine, Dyson is also the author of Homework Help on the Internet (Scholastic 2000), The Space Explorer’s Guide to Stars & Galaxies (2004, book 8 of Scholastic's Space University book club series), and short stories in Girls to the Rescue Book 7 (Meadowbrook, 2000) and Eat My Martian Dust (Baker, 2005).
Dyson develops the annual program book for the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation, serves on the Board of Directors of the National Space Society, is an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, on the Board of Directors of the JSC Chapter of the NASA Alumni League, and a member of the Houston chapter of the Mars Society. She is currently coauthoring a history of 20th century astronomy and space for Facts on File, and studying for her black belt in the Korean Martial Art of Kuk Sool.
Marianne Dyson lives in Houston, Texas with her husband, Ted, who is a volunteer pilot with the Coast Guard Auxiliary and works for NASA. Her oldest son, Tom, is a senior in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M, and her younger son, Scott, is a Rotary International Exchange student attending high school in Taiwan.
Book list:
The Space Explorer’s Guide to Stars & Galaxies (Scholastic, Space University series #8, 2004);
Home on the Moon (National Geographic, 2003);
Homework Help on the Internet (Scholastic, 2000);
Space Station Science (Scholastic, 1999 – OP, 2nd edition, Windward, 2004)
Marianne Dyson’s profile and photos are online at: http://www.mariannedyson.com/aboutauthor.html
Reviews and images of the cover of Home on the Moon are online at:
http://www.mariannedyson.com/hotmreviews.htm
Previous AIP Science Writing Award winners are listed at: http://www.aip.org/aip/writing/winchild.html.
Please call or e-mail Marianne to set up an interview.
The symbiotic pattern of evolution is everywhere and allows us a very different and fascinating window into the way symbiotic viruses work, since all viruses are symbiotic, including those involved in our human reproduction.
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