Jeffrey S. Medkeff - Career As Science Writer and Educator

Career As Science Writer and Educator

Medkeff began writing on science topics in the 1980s, with his first published article appearing in the September, 1986 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine. He joined that publication as a Contributing Editor in 1997, writing many articles until he resigned the position in 2004. During this period, he also served as a source for numerous journalists and offered background materials on asteroids to many journalists.

In the late 1990s, he was also active in an astronomy club whose mission included public education about astronomy. He developed several talks covering various topics of interest to the general public, and gave them to a number of venues. He was also a prominent speaker on the star party circuit, delivering talks at the Texas Star Party, the Riverside Telescope Makers' Convention, the Northern Arizona Star Party, and several others.

In 2004, Medkeff and his wife moved to Eagle River, Alaska. Having sold his business in Arizona and resigned from his commitment at Sky & Telescope, he concentrated on the development of astronomy and science-oriented educational and public outreach programs. He joined the team of amateur astronomers offering free astronomy lectures at the Eagle River Nature Center, and first delivered a popular talk on stellar evolution at that venue in early 2005.

He went on to develop several more presentations and distributed background material on science to journalists, developing teaching materials and curriculum for teachers and home-schoolers. As of late 2005, he was devoting his personal fortune to this effort, and had not accepted outside funding.

In December 2007 Medkeff started the Blue Collar Scientist blog, where he wrote about science, science communication, skepticism and atheism.