Steve Mirsky is an American journalist. He is a writer for ''
Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...
'', the host of the magazine's longform science
podcast
A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
, ''Science Talk''.
and the producer of the daily ''60-Second Science'' podcast. Mirsky has also written Scientific American's monthly "Anti Gravity" column since 1995 until December 8, 2020.
Education
Mirsky obtained his bachelor's degree in chemistry from
Lehman College
Lehman College is a public college in New York City, United States. Founded in 1931 as the Bronx campus of Hunter College, it became an independent college in 1967. The college is named after Herbert H. Lehman, a former New York governor, United ...
of the City University of New York
and in 1985,
obtained his master's degree in chemistry from
Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
.
Career
Prior to studying chemistry in college, Mirsky explored acting at the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a Private college, private drama school with two locations, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related ...
and spent the summer of 1978 with an acting company performing at the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival.
While attending Cornell University, Mirsky received a Mass Media Fellowship through the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
and received a science journalist assignment for one summer at a TV station, WSVN-TV, in Miami, FL.
After graduating from Cornell University, Mirsky was hired
at WSVN-TV and then, continuing his work in the broadcast industry, Mirsky moved to radio for a year as a morning host for WMCR in Oneida, NY.
After WMCR, Mirsky worked for five years at the
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a Private university, private medical school in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein is an independent degree-granting institution within the Montefiore Einstein Health System.
Einstein hosts Doc ...
covering basic research for its publications and then became a freelance science writer for a variety of magazines.
Mirsky began writing Scientific American's monthly "Anti Gravity" column in 1994 as a freelancer and joined Scientific American's staff in 1997.
He is now a senior editor at Scientific American and continues to write the "Anti Gravity" column.
In addition, since 2006, he has hosted Scientific American's weekly ''Science Talk'' podcast and contributed to the magazine's daily ''60-Second Science'' podcast.
Works
Mirsky is most known for writing ''Scientific American''
's long-running monthly "Anti Gravity" column and hosting ''Scientific American''
's weekly ''Science Talk'' podcast.
He is the author of ''Anti Gravity: Allegedly Humorous Writing from Scientific American'' (2007), an anthology of his early "Anti Gravity" columns.
His earlier freelance articles appeared in magazines such as ''
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
'',
''
Audubon
The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such org ...
'',
''
Men's Fitness'',
''
National Wildlife'',
''
Newsday
''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...
,''
''
Technology Review
''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "''The''" in its name on April 23, 1998, under then pu ...
'',
and ''Wildlife Conservation''.
His broadcast credits include
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
, the
Medical News Network, and
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
Overnight.
Awards and honors
Mirsky was awarded:
* a Science Journalism Fellowship at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1993 and 2001;
* a Thomson Reuters Foundation Fellowship in Medical Journalism at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in 1997;
* a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003;
and
* an honorary doctorate from Lehman College at the City University of New York in 2009.
Mirsky was named a Science Writer in Residence for the University of Wisconsin–Madison for the autumn of 2007
and his work on Scientific American's two podcasts has been recognized with Webby Awards in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Bibliography
*
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*
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*
[Online version is titled "Our health depends on our homes and work spaces".]
See also
*
Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism
*
Sternberg peer review controversy
*
The Moon is made of green cheese
"The Moon is made of green cheese" is a statement referring to a fanciful belief that the Moon is composed of cheese. In its original formulation as a proverb and metaphor for credulity with roots in fable, this refers to the perception of a si ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirsky, Steve
Living people
American science journalists
Scientific American people
Year of birth missing (living people)