WHAT'S NEW?

There's always lots new at Dr. Fred's Place. For instance:

Dr. Fred's biography of planetary astronomer Heidi Hammel, Beyond Jupiter came out in hardcover in 2005 and paperback in 2006, and he has several web pages about it. You can share Dr. Fred's trip to The Big Island of Hawai'i, where he visited Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park and spent three days observing with Heidi at the peak of Hawai'i's highest mountain. Or you can discover Heidi's Frequently Asked Questions about Astronomy.

The year 2007 will see two new books.


Physics: Decade by Decade, for high school/college age and adults, presents the story of how a science was transformed by events and discoveries in the last century, while its discoveries influenced history and transformed technology. It is part of the Twentieth Century Science reference set from Facts On File publishers.

Younger readers interested in that subject can get to the "heart of the matter" -- or perhaps just "the heart of matter"? They can discover Dr. Fred's Library of Subatomic Particles. Each book goes deep inside the atom to tell the story of a different particle The Proton, The Neutron, The Electron, The Photon, The Neutrino, and The Quark.

Dr. Fred's second new book for 2007 is



Astrobiology in Lerner Publishing's middle-grade "Cool Science" series. It scheduled for publication in hardcover in the fall. Classroom paperbacks will be available in the spring of 2008.

No longer new, but still worth mentioning are Collision Course! Cosmic Impacts and Life on Earth and Techno-Matter: The Materials Behind the Marvels. The books gathered plenty of praise, especially from librarians who know good books. Collision Course! got a boxed review in the American Library Association's Booklist, and Techno-Matter was selected for the New York Public Library's annual list of the best Books for the Teen Age, 2002.

Then the physicists weighed in with their opinion. Techno-Matter was selected as the winner of the annual American Institute of Physics Children's Science Writing Award for 2002!

Techno-Matter's good news continued in 2003 when it was named to Los Angeles' 100 Best Books: 2001 by the LA Unified School District and the Special Interest Group on Children's Literature and Reading of the International Reading Association.

Dr. Fred is already working on two other books planned for later in 2008, including one based on his "Our Next Planet" presentation. Click this link to get to a page tells more about why people will settle another world.

You can download a "Day With Dr. Fred" brochure to share with others in your school or town. You can also download a sheet of Dr. Fred" bookmarks with the grinning "Dr. Fred" logo and the cover of Beyond Jupiter.

Dr. Fred's Place has been honored for Science Excellence by "Dr. Matrix."

When recognizing Dr. Fred's Place, Dr. Matrix wrote:

Sites receiving this award are distinguished by the quality of their content alone. A flashy Web site will not receive this award if its content lacks interest and integrity. A simple Web site will receive this award if it serves the interests of discovery, mental enrichment and thoughtful enjoyment. This award doesn't go to "cool" sites. It goes to the great sites. It's not a daily or weekly award, but an award based on presence, here and now. It is given in gratitude, with no other request but that you keep doing what you're doing.

Thank you, Dr. Matrix!

Now that a group of astronomers have declared that Pluto is no longer a planet, Dr. Fred has updated his "Ask Dr. Fred" question "How many planets are in the Solar System, and is Pluto one of them?" You can also read Dr. Fred's answers to seven very different topics: how Earth would be different without the Moon, life on Mars, dinosaur doom, the colors of the sky and flowers, good and bad ozone, why stars twinkle, and a scientist's view of creation.

"Dr. Fred" at Nye Elementary School, Hummelstown, PA, March 23, 2001

Just for fun, you can see pictures of Dr. Fred's grandchildren wearing souvenirs he brought from his Hawaiian trip in 2003. The twins were born right after Thanksgiving in 1998, and the newest addition arrived in September, 2003. A perennial favorite is a composite picture of Dr. Fred "just hangin' around" on the cover of one of his books.

Dr. Fred loves to read about science as well as writing about it, so he has become a book reviewer and columnist for the Dallas Morning News and other newspapers. He even has a science book review web site called The Science Shelf. For the column, he needed a photograph with one of his great bowties.

You're always welcome at Dr. Fred's Place, and so are your comments. We love hearing from you, so click here to send e-mail.

Tell us what you like, what you don't like, and any problems you had in using or navigating through Dr. Fred's Place.

Many thanks!

This site is on the list of Approved Science Education Sites by the American Association for the Advancement of Science at its Science NetLinks site.
Click here to read the review.