Michael Hanlon (20 December 1964 – 9 February 2016) was a British science writer and newspaper science editor.

Early life

Hanlon was born in Bristol and grew up on the

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

coast. He studied Earth Sciences at university.

Career

Hanlon was the Science page editor at the ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' having previously been Science Editor at the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'', and author of articles for the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'', the ''Independent'' and ''

Irish News Irish commonly refers to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the island and the sovereign state *** Erse (disambiguati ...

''. He also contributed on a regular basis to several magazines, including the ''Spectator''. He was often seen on television, or heard on the radio, as an expert in explaining science to the general public.

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

called Hanlon a "top science writer". Hanlon turned heads, including that of Ed West, when he abandoned his skepticism about

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

. According to the Daily Telegraph, this followed a visit to the Greenland ice cap when he saw the extent of the melt for himself.

Books

* ''The Worlds of Galileo: A Jovian Odyssey'' (2001), co-authored with

Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. Clarke co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A ...

. * ''The Real Mars'' (2004) * ''The Science of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (2006) * ''10 Questions Science Can't Answer (Yet!): A Guide to Science's Greatest Mysteries'' (2007) * '' Eternity: Our Next Billion Years'' (Macmillan Science) (2008)

Personal life

Hanlon was married to Elena Seymenliyska, also a journalist, who works for

Aeon (digital magazine) ''Aeon'' is a digital magazine of ideas, philosophy and culture. Publishing new articles every weekday, Aeon describes itself as a publication which "asks the biggest questions and finds the freshest, most original answers, provided by world-lea ...

. Latterly, his girlfriend was Alison. Hanlon died of a heart attack on 9 February 2016. He leaves behind a son, Zachary.

References

External links

Jurassica.org, his project
archived 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanlon, Michael 1964 births 2016 deaths British science writers British science journalists Daily Express people Daily Mail journalists Journalists from Bristol People from Camberwell Writers from Dorset