Hartmann, William "Bill"
William Hartmann is a planetary scientist, historian, artist, and fiction author, among other things. The interview covers memories of Sputnik’s landing and the first moon landing, the University of Arizona’s astronomy program in the early 1960s, the history of crater chronometry, competing theories about lunar formation, American cultural attitudes towards science from the fifties to 2017, and changes within the culture of scientists over the same period.
Part one of three was recorded at the base of Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, Arizona March 9th, 2017.
This interview covers:
- The field of planetary science in the 1960s and 70s
- The history of the Planetary Science Institute
- Exploring the Pinacate as inspiration for planetary science
- Interdisciplinary work in the sciences
- Hartmann’s work investigating UFO claims for the US Air Force
- His acquaintance with physicist James McDonald
- Theory that the Biblical narrative of Paul’s blindness on the road to Damascus could be associated with scientific phenomenon
- Science in society
- Photographic analysis of the JFK assassination for the House Committee on Assassinations
- Challenges of being a scholar and scientist in the public sphere
- Problems of intellectual compartmentalization.
Part two of three was recorded at the base of Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, Arizona March 17th, 2017.
This interview covers:
- The Tucson Air Quality Study and Groups Against Smelter Pollution (G.A.S.P.) in the 1970s
- Tucson’s green city council and the fight over water rates in the 1970s
- The changing role of science in the public sphere and the growing need for scientists to justify themselves and their work
- Science and economics
- Science and media
- Hartmann's artistic work and astronomy paintings
- The relationship between art and science work and their complementary modes of perception
- Development as a writer, from scientific papers to textbooks, popular science writing to novels
- Science fiction and historical fiction
Part three of three was recorded at the base of Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, Arizona March 22nd, 2017.