Norman Sperling is an author, editor, publisher, teacher, and telescope

Telescope

A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...

 designer living in San Mateo, California

San Mateo, California

San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...

.

Sperling received a BA

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 from Michigan State University

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

 after graduating from Montgomery Blair High School

Montgomery Blair High School

Montgomery Blair High School is a public high school located in unincorporated Silver Spring in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States...

 in Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...

. He followed that with an MA

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 in History of Science from the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

. He has taught astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

 and related courses at Sonoma State University

Sonoma State University

Sonoma State University is a public, coeducational business and liberal arts college affiliated with the California State University system. The main campus is located in Rohnert Park, California, United States and lies approximately south of Santa Rosa and north of San Francisco...

, California State University, Hayward, UC Berkeley, and San Francisco State University

San Francisco State University

San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...

. He has also taught many personal interest adult classes.

Publisher and author

Sperling founded astronomical supplier and publisher Everything in the Universe in 1977. He as been assistant editor for Sky & Telescope

Sky & Telescope

Sky & Telescope is a monthly American magazine covering all aspects of amateur astronomy, including the following:*current events in astronomy and space exploration;*events in the amateur astronomy community;...

 magazine and science editor for www.AltaVista.com. Sperling is currently, as of 2011, the editor and publisher of the Journal of Irreproducible Results

Journal of Irreproducible Results

The Journal of Irreproducible Results is a magazine of science humor. JIR was founded in Israel in 1955 by virologist Alexander Kohn and physicist Harry J. Lipkin, who wanted a humor magazine about science, for scientists. It contains a unique mix of jokes, satire of scientific practice, science...

, a science humor magazine. He has authored What Your Astronomy Textbook Won’t Tell You (ISBN 0-913399-04-3) and Any Parent’s Recipe for Great Baseball He edited and published John Dobson

John Dobson (astronomer)

John Lowry Dobson is a popularizer of amateur astronomy. He is most notable for being the promoter of a design for large, portable, low-cost Newtonian reflecting telescopes that bears his name, the Dobsonian telescope. The design is considered revolutionary since it allowed amateur astronomers to...

's book How and Why to Make a User-Friendly Sidewalk Telescope (ISBN 0-913399-63-9). He has also been published in Academic American Encyclopedia

Academic American Encyclopedia

Academic American Encyclopedia is a 21-volume general English-language encyclopedia published in 1980. It was first produced by Arête Publishing, the American subsidiary of the Dutch publishing company VNU ....

, Encyclopedia Americana

Encyclopedia Americana

Encyclopedia Americana is one of the largest general encyclopedias in the English language. Following the acquisition of Grolier in 2000, the encyclopedia has been produced by Scholastic....

 online, Technology Review

Technology Review

Technology Review is a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as "The Technology Review", and was re-launched without the "The" in its name on April 23, 1998 under then publisher R. Bruce Journey...

, San Francisco Examiner, Astronomy

Astronomy (magazine)

Astronomy is a monthly American magazine about astronomy. Targeting amateur astronomers for its readers, it contains columns on sky viewing, reader-submitted astrophotographs, and articles on astronomy and astrophysics that are readable by nonscientists....

, Pacific Discovery, Journal of College Science Teaching, Mercury, Rittenhouse, Popular Astronomy, Telescope Making, Griffith Observer, Reflector, and The Pundit.
Sperling created the Catalog of North American Planetaria (CATNAP), which later expanded into the Planetarium Directory. He has been planetarium

Planetarium

A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...

 director at Duncan Planetarium, Princeton Day School, New Jersey; Rotary-Chabot Planetarium, Chabot Observatory and Science Center, California; and Edgewood Junior High School Planetarium, Maryland, and he has been a lecturer at Morrison Planetarium in San Francisco.

Inventor

As an inventor, Sperling created, with Mike Simmons, the Astroscan

Astroscan

The Astroscan is a wide-field Newtonian reflector telescope produced by the Edmund Scientific Corporation. It was designed by Norman Sperling and Mike Simmons to be used as an introductory telescope. Rather than using a more traditional equatorial or altazimuth mount the Astroscan features a...

 telescope for Edmund Scientific, as well as "The Stars Above" star-finder for Spherical Concepts.

Expert witness

Sperling serves occasionally as an expert witness

Expert witness

An expert witness, professional witness or judicial expert is a witness, who by virtue of education, training, skill, or experience, is believed to have expertise and specialised knowledge in a particular subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially and legally...

 in the field of astronomy. The most high-profile case in which he testified was known as the Billionaire Boys Club

Billionaire Boys Club

The Billionaire Boys Club was an investment-and-social club organized by Joseph Gamsky, also known as "Joe Hunt", in southern California in 1983...

 case in 1992. He was able to nullify the testimony of a key prosecution witness. The defendant was acquitted.

Volunteer service

Norman Sperling is a recipient of the National Service Award by the Western Amateur Astronomers, and had been recognized "For special and meritorious service for his unusual dedication and service to the astronomical community in all areas of astronomy" by the Astronomical Association of Northern California. He is a Fellow of the International Planetarium Society (first induction).

Sperling is active in the Bay Area Skeptics, Northern California Historical Astronomy Luncheon and Discussion Association, and his children's PTA

Parent-Teacher Association

In the U.S. a parent-teacher association or Parent-Teacher-Student Association is a formal organization composed of parents, teachers and staff that is intended to facilitate parental participation in a public or private school. Most public and private K-8 schools in the U.S. have a PTA, a...

 and baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

leagues.

External links

• Everything in the Universe