Jay Pasachoff

Jay Myron Pasachoff (July 1, 1943 – November 20, 2022) was an American astronomer. Pasachoff was Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy at Williams College and the author of textbooks and tradebooks in astronomy, physics, mathematics, and other sciences.

Biography After the Bronx High School of Science, Pasachoff studied at Harvard, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1963, his master's degree in 1965, and his doctorate in 1969. His doctoral thesis was titled Fine Structure in the Solar Chromosphere. . Jay Pasachoff on solar eclipses: "Each time is like going to the seventh game of the World Series with the score tied in the ninth inning."

Work Pasachoff observed with a wide variety of ground-based telescopes and spacecraft, and reported on those activities in writing his texts. Pasachoff carried out extensive scientific work

He lectured widely, including a stint as a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer. He was also Director of the Hopkins Observatory and (in rotation, currently beginning in the fall semester of 2019) Chair of the Astronomy Department at Williams.

Pasachoff was Chair of the Historical Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society (2013-2015). He was on the Organizing Committee for Commission C.C3 on the History of Astronomy of the International Astronomical Union (2015-2018) and on the Johannes Kepler Working Group. A catalogue of the Jay and Naomi Pasachoff rare-book collection—including works by Copernicus, Tycho, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, Fraunhofer, and Einstein—on deposit in the Chapin Library of Williams College (W. Hammond, 2014). His wife. Dr. Naomi Pasachoff (1947–), is a writer and the daughter of economist Anna Schwartz. They have two daughters, one of whom, Eloise Pasachoff, is a research Professor of law at Georgetown Law.

Selected publications The Sun, co-authored with Leon Golub (Reaktion Books, London, for the Science Museum, London, 2017) Cosmos: The Art and Science of the Universe, co-authored with Roberta J. M. Olson (Reaktion Books, London, and U. Chicago Books, Chicago, 2019) Peterson Field Guide to the Stars and Planets , 4th ed. 2021 update (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016) Peterson Field Guide to Weather with Jay Anderson and John A. Day (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021) The Cosmos: Astronomy in the New Millennium, co-authored with Alexei V. Filippenko (5th edition, Cambridge University Press, 2019), The Solar Corona, 2nd Edition, co-authored with Leon Golub (Cambridge University Press, 2010) ; 1997 1st edition Innovation in Astronomy Education, co-edited with Rosa M. Ros and Naomi Pasachoff (Cambridge University Press, 2008) Peterson First Guide to Astronomy, 2nd ed. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013) Teaching and Learning of Astronomy: Effective Strategies for Educators Worldwide, co-edited with John Percy (Cambridge University Press, 2005) The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Sun (Alpha Books, 2003) Nearest Star: The Exciting Science of Our Sun, co-authored with Leon Golub (Harvard University Press, 2001) , 2nd edition, 2014, Cambridge University Press The Teaching of Astronomy, co-edited with John Percy (Cambridge University Press; Reprint edition, 1992) Fire in the Sky: Comets and Meteors, the Decisive Centuries, in British Art and Science, co-authored with Roberta J. M. Olson, both beneficiaries of Getty Fellowships, (Cambridge University Press, 1998) Earth Science, co-authored with Naomi Pasachoff and Tim Cooney (Scott Foresman, 1990) Physical Science, co-authored with Naomi Pasachoff and Tim Cooney (Scott Foresman, 1990)