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Andrew Fraknoi is the Chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College, where he teaches courses introducing astronomy and physics to non-science majors. In 2007, he was named California Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement & Support of Education.
Fraknoi also serves as an educational consultant for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Before coming to Foothill in 1992, he served as the Society's Executive Director for 14 years and was the editor of its popular-level astronomy magazine, Mercury.
Fraknoi is author or coauthor of 15 books on astronomy and astronomy education, including The Planets and The Universe, two collections of astronomy and science fiction published by Bantam Books. He is the lead author of Voyages through the Universe, a college-level textbook, now in its third edition, which has become one of the leading introductory astronomy texts in the U.S.
At the K-12 level, he has edited two collections of astronomy teaching resources, called "The Universe at Your Fingertips" and "More Universe at Your Fingertips", available through the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. His astronomy book for children, Wonderful World of Space, was published by Disney in 2007.
Fraknoi has written many dozens of articles and resource guides for those learning or teaching astronomy (click here for a list of his writings that are freely available on the web.)
Radio listeners know him as a regular guest on local and national radio programs, explaining astronomical developments in everyday language. In Northern California, he is an ongoing guest on both the The Gil Gross Show on KGO and Michael Krasny's Forum Program on KQED. He is the “astronomer-in-residence” for the Mark and Brian Morning Show, syndicated out of Los Angeles. Nationally, he has been heard on Science Friday and Weekend All Things Considered on National Public Radio (click here for some of his podcasts and webcasts). His TV appearances include The Today Show, CBS Morning News, and Larry King Live.
Fraknoi is a popular lecturer around the country, and has given over 450 public talks on topics ranging from “Why Falling into a Black Hole is a Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience” to “Are There Real-Estate Agents on Other Worlds?”
Fraknoi serves on the Board of Trustees of the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, a scientific and educational organization dedicated to the quest for life among the stars. He is also a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, specializing in debunking astrology. In 2003, he became the first community-college instructor to be elected a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences.
Fraknoi has a strong interest in helping to improve the way science is taught in the nations' schools. For 20 summers he organized and led the national "Universe in the Classroom" workshops on teaching astronomy in grades 3-12. He also moderates the "Cosmos in the Classroom" symposia, held every three years, on teaching introductory astronomy at the college level. He was the founder and director of Project ASTRO (a program to bring volunteer astronomers into 4th through 9th grade classrooms on an ongoing basis) that now operates in 13 regional sites around the country. A branch of this project, called Family ASTRO, has developed games, activities, and workshops to help families enjoy doing astronomy together.
Fraknoi was educated at Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley, and has taught astronomy and physics at San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, Canada College, and the College of San Mateo, as well as the University of California Extension Division.
In 1994, he received the Annenberg Foundation Prize of the American Astronomical Society (the highest honor in the field of astronomy education) and the Klumpke-Roberts Prize of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (given for a lifetime of contributions to popularizing astronomy.) His Physics 12 course at Foothill (Physics for Poets: Everything You Wanted to Know about Einstein but Were Afraid to Ask) received the 2005 “Innovation of the Year” award from the League for Innovation. And in 2007, he won the prestigious Gemant Award of the American Institute of Physics, given for a life-time of contributions to the popularization of physics and culture (an award previously won by England’s Stephen Hawking, Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg, and the producer of PBS-TV’s Nova program.)
Asteroid 4859 has been named Asteroid Fraknoi by the International Astronomical Union to honor his work in astronomy education.
To contact Andrew Fraknoi, you can write to:
Astronomy Program
Foothill College
12345 El Monte Rd.
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
or send E-mail to
fraknoiandrew {at} fhda.edu
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