Walter Seager Sullivan, Jr. (January 12, 1918 – March 19, 1996) was considered the "dean" of science writers. Sullivan spent most of his career as a science reporter for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. Over a 50-year career he covered all aspects of science— Antarctic expeditions, rocket launchings in the late 1950s,

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

, chemistry, and

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

. He wrote several well-received books, including ''Assault on the Unknown'' about the International Geophysical Year; ''We Are Not Alone'', a bestseller about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence; ''Continents in Motion''; ''Black Holes: The Edge of Space, the End of Time''; and ''Landprints''. In 1971, Sullivan participated in a symposium on the occasion of the arrival of Mariner 9 to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

, together with

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

; Arthur C. Clarke; Carl Sagan and Bruce C. Murray. Their discussions were recorded in the book '' Mars and the Mind of Man''. Sullivan won nearly every award open to a science journalist, including the Daly Medal of the American Geographical Society, the

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

, the Distinguished Public Service Award of the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

, the AIP

Science writing award The American Institute of Physics (AIP) instituted their Science Writing Award to "promote effective science communication in print and broadcast media in order to improve the general public's appreciation of physics, astronomy, and allied scien ...

; the James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public from the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1980 Sullivan was awarded the

Public Welfare Medal The Public Welfare Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "in recognition of distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare." It is the most prestigious honor conferred by the academy. First award ...

from the National Academy of Sciences. The

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's a ...

named its science journalism award after Sullivan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Walter S. 1918 births 1996 deaths American male journalists George Polk Award recipients 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American male writers

See also

References