Title
Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology and Native American Studies(1963)
Director, Division of University Studies (1979-84)
Degree
BA Boston University 1960; PhD University of Arizona 1965
Teaching Experience
University of South Florida; University of Colorado; University of Padua (Italy)
Specialties
Astronomy, Mesoamerican archaeoastronomy, history of science
Interests
Astronomy of ancient cultures of the Americas, isolated star clusters / frequent research trips to Mexico, Central and South America
Selected Publications
• People and the Sky: Our Ancestors and the Cosmos (Thames & Hudson, 2008)
• Foundations of New World Cultural Astronomy: A Reader With Commentary, Editor. (University Press of Colorado, 2008)
• The First Americans: Where They Came From and Who They Became (Scholastic, 2005)
• The Madrid Codex: New Approaches to Understanding an Ancient Maya Manuscript, edited with Gabrielle Vail, (University Press of Colorado 2004
• The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays (Oxford University Press, 2002)
• Stairways to the Stars (Wiley, 1997)
• Behind the Crystal Ball (Times, 1996)
• Conversing With the Planets (Times, Random House, 1992)
• Ancient Astronomers (Smithsonian, 1992)
• The Lines of Nazca, ed. (American Philosophical Society, 1990)
• Empires of Time (Basic Books, 1989)
• World Archaeoastronomy, ed. (Cambridge University Press, 1988)
• Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico (University of Texas Press, 1980), (Translations in German, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Polish, Portugese)
• Numerous edited volumes; articles: "Somebody Else's Cosmology" in Mysteries of Life in the Universe (Harcourt Brace, 1992); "Mystery on the Desert: The Lines of Nazca" in Mysteries of Mankind (National Geographic Society, 1992); "Moctezuma's Sky: Aztec Astronomy and Ritual" in Moctezuma's Mexico: Visions of the Aztec World (University Press of Colorado, 1992)
• Numerous articles, reviews and commentaries in Science, American Scientist, American Antiquity, Monographs of the American Philosophical Society, Archaeology, Sky & Telescope
Distinctions
Grants include those from NSF, Sigma Xi, the OSCO Fund, Earthwatch (Educational Expeditions International), and the National Geographic Society; Visiting Scholar, University of Padua 1985, 1989 and Resident Scholar, Centro Internazionale A. Beltrame di Storio dello Spazio & Tempo, Padua 1985; National Professor of the Year 1982, Council for the Advancement and Support of Education; Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science elected 1980
Board Membership
Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard; Mesoamerican Archive and Research Project, Princeton