Censoring Science Review and Analysis
Censoring Science
Mark Bowen
Censoring Science begins in Washington D.C., where we are introduced to Dr. James Hansen. Born in 1941 on a farm in Denison, Iowa, Jim was the fifth child and first boy out of seven children. His father, who had minimal education, held many different low-paying jobs and the family moved rather frequently. In third grade, Jim’s sister gave him part of her paper route- a job he would keep throughout high school, gradually saving up enough money to pay for college. Though he was a rather laid-back student, he earned the highest score on an IQ test (taken by seventh-twelfth graders) in seventh grade. Because of his test scores Jim received a scholarship to the University of Iowa, where he came under the influence of James Van Allen, chairman of the department of physics and astronomy.
Although Jim held much respect for Van Allen, he never took a course with him because he lacked the confidence. He confides that he “didn’t want him to know how ignorant I was” (page 73). Instead in his junior year, he took a general astronomy course taught by Professor Satoshi Matsushima, where he befriended a student named Andy Lacis. The two did so well during the course that Matsushima suggested they take the graduate qualifying exams in physics, which unexpectedly, both of the undergrads passed. Their success escorted them straight into graduate school and earned them financial support from NASA graduate traineeships.
Matsushima became Ph.D. adviser to them both, and during a total eclipse of the moon on December 30, 1963, he introduced them to the art of astronomical observation. Their “observatory” was a converted cornfield out in the middle of nowhere with a tiny telescope that hadn’t been used in years. The night of the eclipse also happened to be the coldest day of the year at thirty degrees below zero, but they stuck it out and that night produced a curve of the moon’s brightness as it passed through the Earth’s shadow. Normally,
Mark Bowen
Censoring Science begins in Washington D.C., where we are introduced to Dr. James Hansen. Born in 1941 on a farm in Denison, Iowa, Jim was the fifth child and first boy out of seven children. His father, who had minimal education, held many different low-paying jobs and the family moved rather frequently. In third grade, Jim’s sister gave him part of her paper route- a job he would keep throughout high school, gradually saving up enough money to pay for college. Though he was a rather laid-back student, he earned the highest score on an IQ test (taken by seventh-twelfth graders) in seventh grade. Because of his test scores Jim received a scholarship to the University of Iowa, where he came under the influence of James Van Allen, chairman of the department of physics and astronomy.
Although Jim held much respect for Van Allen, he never took a course with him because he lacked the confidence. He confides that he “didn’t want him to know how ignorant I was” (page 73). Instead in his junior year, he took a general astronomy course taught by Professor Satoshi Matsushima, where he befriended a student named Andy Lacis. The two did so well during the course that Matsushima suggested they take the graduate qualifying exams in physics, which unexpectedly, both of the undergrads passed. Their success escorted them straight into graduate school and earned them financial support from NASA graduate traineeships.
Matsushima became Ph.D. adviser to them both, and during a total eclipse of the moon on December 30, 1963, he introduced them to the art of astronomical observation. Their “observatory” was a converted cornfield out in the middle of nowhere with a tiny telescope that hadn’t been used in years. The night of the eclipse also happened to be the coldest day of the year at thirty degrees below zero, but they stuck it out and that night produced a curve of the moon’s brightness as it passed through the Earth’s shadow. Normally,