Fiorella Terenzi
Encyclopedia
Fiorella Terenzi is an Italian
astrophysicist
, author
and musician
who is best known for taking recordings of radio waves
from galaxies and turning them into music. She received her doctorate from the University of Milan
but is currently based in the United States
.
Described by Time Magazine as "a cross between Carl Sagan and Madonna", astrophysicist, author and recording artist Fiorella Terenzi has studied opera and composition at Conservatory G. Verdi, Corsi Popolari Serali and taught mathematics and physics at Liceo Scientifico, Milan. In research at the Computer Audio Research Laboratory, University of California, San Diego, she developed techniques to convert radio waves from galaxies into sound - released by Island Records on her acclaimed CD "Music from the Galaxies".
Terenzi's global TV and press appearances include features on CNN, The Dennis Miller Show, Sci Fi Channel, NPR Talk of the Nation, Weekend Edition and Science Friday, Newsweek on Air, The Wall Street Journal, People, Time, Glamour, Associated Press, Details, Los Angeles Reader, Daily News and hundreds of feature stories internationally including the covers of Mondo 2000, New Frontier, Atari Explorer, Extropy, Composer USA, CDROM Today (U.K.) and Eye Magazine (Canada).
In lectures at UCSD, Stanford, MIT, the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History (NY), and in performances, live and on TV, in the US, Europe, and Japan, Terenzi has combined science and art to awaken people to the wonders of the universe. She has moderated hundreds of panels on science, technology, education and public outreach from Digital Hollywood to MacWorld and chaired the "Techno 2000" symposium at Pepperdine University. Terenzi's speaking engagements embrace such topics as "Globalization of Education", "Women in Space", "The Business of Space", "Values for a New Civilization", "Art, Intelligence & Artificial Intelligence" and the most popular "Heavenly Knowledge" and "Invisible Universe".
During her term as Director of New Media at the Miami Museum of Science and Space Transit Planetarium, Terenzi arranged and hosted events including "National Astronomy Day", produced Planetarium Shows including "Stars of the Seasons / Stars of the Sea", developed content for grants including a NASA grant to deliver earth/space science on-line for high schools, and spoke at events from the NSF funded "Girls in Science" program, to the Florida Planetarium Directors Association, to the international State of the World Forum in New York.
Terenzi is best known for her CD-ROM
Invisible Universe, which blends astronomy and music into an entertaining and enlightening voyage through the stars. It won the SIGCAT Award for "Most Creative Application of Multimedia in Higher and Adult Education". music and poetry with astronomy lessons, and for a sexually charged 1998 book about science titled Heavenly Knowledge. She also released albums of her music. She is known as an Apple Computer
AppleMaster, and has collaborated with the likes of Thomas Dolby
, Timothy Leary
, Herbie Hancock
, and Ornette Coleman
. She is currently teaching astronomy at Brevard Community College
in Cocoa
, FL.
Her Avon/HarperCollins book, "Heavenly Knowledge", explores astronomy as a metaphor for human relationships and humanity's place in the Universe. The book, covered on ABC Radio, NPR Talk of The Nation, BBC Radio, and The Sci-Fi Channel, has been translated into Italian ("Musica Dalle Stelle" released by Sperling-Kupfer and bundled with her music CD "Galactically Yours"), German ("Der Kosmos ist weiblich" released by Goldmann/Bertelsmann), Latvian and other languages.
Her songs are featured on the Billboard Top 20 Music Video "The Gate to the Mind's Eye" with Thomas Dolby, and on "Beyond Life", Mercury Records' dance/trance CD and video tribute to Dr. Timothy Leary. Her vocals are featured on Trance Planet 5 (Triloka), "From Here to Tranquillity" (Silent Records), and John Serrie's "Ixlandia" (Miramar). Samples of her track "Sidereal Breath" appear on Massive Attack's "Karmacoma". She has performed and recorded with artists from Herbie Hancock to Ornette Coleman.
Terenzi wrote the foreword for Paula Berinstein's recent book "Making Space Happen: Private Space Efforts and the People Behind Them" (Plexus Books) and has been featured in full chapter in Laura Woodmansee's "Women of Space: Cool Careers on the Final Frontier" (Apogee Books) and the music and techonolgy book "The Art of Digital Music" by Kelli Richards and David Battino. She also provided a technical review of the educational text book "The Physics of Every Day Phenomena" by Thomas Griffith (McGraw-Hill).
Currently, she is a full-time Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Brevard Community College, Cocoa, FL.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
astrophysicist
Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
who is best known for taking recordings of radio waves
Radio frequency
Radio frequency is a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of radio waves, and the alternating currents which carry radio signals...
from galaxies and turning them into music. She received her doctorate from the University of Milan
University of Milan
The University of Milan is a higher education institution in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe, with about 62,801 students, a teaching and research staff of 2,455 and a non-teaching staff of 2,200....
but is currently based in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Described by Time Magazine as "a cross between Carl Sagan and Madonna", astrophysicist, author and recording artist Fiorella Terenzi has studied opera and composition at Conservatory G. Verdi, Corsi Popolari Serali and taught mathematics and physics at Liceo Scientifico, Milan. In research at the Computer Audio Research Laboratory, University of California, San Diego, she developed techniques to convert radio waves from galaxies into sound - released by Island Records on her acclaimed CD "Music from the Galaxies".
Terenzi's global TV and press appearances include features on CNN, The Dennis Miller Show, Sci Fi Channel, NPR Talk of the Nation, Weekend Edition and Science Friday, Newsweek on Air, The Wall Street Journal, People, Time, Glamour, Associated Press, Details, Los Angeles Reader, Daily News and hundreds of feature stories internationally including the covers of Mondo 2000, New Frontier, Atari Explorer, Extropy, Composer USA, CDROM Today (U.K.) and Eye Magazine (Canada).
In lectures at UCSD, Stanford, MIT, the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History (NY), and in performances, live and on TV, in the US, Europe, and Japan, Terenzi has combined science and art to awaken people to the wonders of the universe. She has moderated hundreds of panels on science, technology, education and public outreach from Digital Hollywood to MacWorld and chaired the "Techno 2000" symposium at Pepperdine University. Terenzi's speaking engagements embrace such topics as "Globalization of Education", "Women in Space", "The Business of Space", "Values for a New Civilization", "Art, Intelligence & Artificial Intelligence" and the most popular "Heavenly Knowledge" and "Invisible Universe".
During her term as Director of New Media at the Miami Museum of Science and Space Transit Planetarium, Terenzi arranged and hosted events including "National Astronomy Day", produced Planetarium Shows including "Stars of the Seasons / Stars of the Sea", developed content for grants including a NASA grant to deliver earth/space science on-line for high schools, and spoke at events from the NSF funded "Girls in Science" program, to the Florida Planetarium Directors Association, to the international State of the World Forum in New York.
Terenzi is best known for her CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
Invisible Universe, which blends astronomy and music into an entertaining and enlightening voyage through the stars. It won the SIGCAT Award for "Most Creative Application of Multimedia in Higher and Adult Education". music and poetry with astronomy lessons, and for a sexually charged 1998 book about science titled Heavenly Knowledge. She also released albums of her music. She is known as an Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
AppleMaster, and has collaborated with the likes of Thomas Dolby
Thomas Dolby
Thomas Dolby is an English musician and producer. Best known for his 1982 hit "She Blinded Me with Science", and 1984 single "Hyperactive!", he has also worked extensively in production and as a session musician.-Early life:Dolby was born in London, England, contrary to information in early 1980s...
, Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, and Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
. She is currently teaching astronomy at Brevard Community College
Brevard Community College
Brevard Community College, founded in 1960, is a community college on Florida's Space Coast, in Brevard County, Florida. It has four campuses in Cocoa, Melbourne, Palm Bay, and Titusville, as well as an Aerospace program at Kennedy Space Center and a Virtual Campus...
in Cocoa
Cocoa, Florida
Cocoa is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 16,412 at the 2000 census. As of 2008, the estimated population according to the U.S. Census Bureau was 16,478. It is part of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:Cocoa was...
, FL.
Her Avon/HarperCollins book, "Heavenly Knowledge", explores astronomy as a metaphor for human relationships and humanity's place in the Universe. The book, covered on ABC Radio, NPR Talk of The Nation, BBC Radio, and The Sci-Fi Channel, has been translated into Italian ("Musica Dalle Stelle" released by Sperling-Kupfer and bundled with her music CD "Galactically Yours"), German ("Der Kosmos ist weiblich" released by Goldmann/Bertelsmann), Latvian and other languages.
Discography
- "Music from the Galaxies" (Island/PolyGram Records, 1991)
- "The Gate to the Mind's Eye" SoundtrackSoundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
(with Thomas DolbyThomas DolbyThomas Dolby is an English musician and producer. Best known for his 1982 hit "She Blinded Me with Science", and 1984 single "Hyperactive!", he has also worked extensively in production and as a session musician.-Early life:Dolby was born in London, England, contrary to information in early 1980s...
) (Giant/Warner Bros. Records, 1994)
Her songs are featured on the Billboard Top 20 Music Video "The Gate to the Mind's Eye" with Thomas Dolby, and on "Beyond Life", Mercury Records' dance/trance CD and video tribute to Dr. Timothy Leary. Her vocals are featured on Trance Planet 5 (Triloka), "From Here to Tranquillity" (Silent Records), and John Serrie's "Ixlandia" (Miramar). Samples of her track "Sidereal Breath" appear on Massive Attack's "Karmacoma". She has performed and recorded with artists from Herbie Hancock to Ornette Coleman.
Terenzi wrote the foreword for Paula Berinstein's recent book "Making Space Happen: Private Space Efforts and the People Behind Them" (Plexus Books) and has been featured in full chapter in Laura Woodmansee's "Women of Space: Cool Careers on the Final Frontier" (Apogee Books) and the music and techonolgy book "The Art of Digital Music" by Kelli Richards and David Battino. She also provided a technical review of the educational text book "The Physics of Every Day Phenomena" by Thomas Griffith (McGraw-Hill).
Professional Teaching Career
Terenzi has taught astronomy and physics at Glendale College, Pierce College (Los Angeles), Pace University (New York), Borough of Manhattan Community College and Bronx Community College (City University of NY, New York).Currently, she is a full-time Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Brevard Community College, Cocoa, FL.