UF Physics Alumnus Profile: Dr. Ethan Siegel
Ethan Siegel is the founder of the science communication endeavor Starts With A Bang! After graduating from UF with a PhD in theoretical astrophysics, with a focus in cosmology under the supervision of Prof. Jim Fry, Dr. Siegel followed what might look like a traditional academic track. He taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and held a postdoctoral research associate position at the University of Arizona, followed by professorships at the University of Portland and Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR.
During his postdoctoral years, however, Dr. Siegel decided to pursue a non-traditional path. He began to focus much of his efforts on science communication, giving presentations in video, audio, and in-person formats. He observed a disconnect between what scientists working at the frontiers of their fields knew about reality and what the general public believed the scientific consensus to be — this inspired him to bridge the gap. Dr. Siegel aims to make science accessible to anyone curious to know what is known and how we know it. Most notably, he founded the online science blog Starts With A Bang! in 2008, which he has continued to produce and write ever since. He has focused on science communication full-time since 2015.
After stints on ScienceBlogs, Medium, and Forbes, Starts With A Bang! now appears on Big Think. Dr. Siegel has expanded to run an associated podcast, newsletter, and Patreon subscription service, with his first two books — Beyond the Galaxy and Treknology — completed. His current projects include creation of a children’s book, writing an illustrated cosmic history of the entire Universe, and making a new online video series focused on the Universe as a whole. The story of the Universe is the one story we all have in common; it unites us in a profound and fundamental way. These days, Dr. Siegel lives in the Pacific Northwest, engrossed in telling science stories meant for curious minds everywhere.
In October, Dr. Siegel visited UF and gave a captivating talk on “Bringing the Universe to the World,” which explored his personal journey in building a career out of communicating science across the globe.
