McCray, W. Patrick 1967- (Patrick McCray)

PERSONAL:

Born in 1967. Education: University of Arizona, Ph.D., 1996.

ADDRESSES:

Home—CA. Office—Department of History, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9410. E-mail—pmccray@history.ucsb.edu.

CAREER:

Writer, educator. University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, associate professor of the history of modern physical sciences and technology and codirector of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society.

WRITINGS:

Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice: The Fragile Craft, Ashgate (Brookfield, VT), 1999.

Giant Telescopes: Astronomical Ambition and the Promise of Technology, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 2004.

Keep Watching the Skies! The Story of Operation Moonwatch and the Dawn of the Space Age, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2008.

Contributor to journals, including Isis, History and Technology, Physics Today, and Technology and Culture.

SIDELIGHTS:

W. Patrick McCray is a writer and educator, serving on the faculty of the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he is an associate professor of the history of modern physical sciences and technology, and also serves as the codirector of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society. He earned his doctorate at the University of Arizona, where he later went on to teach as part of their Program on Culture, Science, Technology, and Society. His primary areas of academic and research interest include American science during the Cold War, the history of modern science and technology, and the history of modern craft technologies. He has contributed scholarly writings to a number of academic and topical journals, including Isis, History and Technology, Physics Today, and Technology and Culture. In addition, he has written several books on a number of varied subjects, including Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice: The Fragile Craft, Giant Telescopes: Astronomical Ambition and the Promise of Technology, and Keep Watching the Skies! The Story of Operation Moonwatch and the Dawn of the Space Age.

In Giant Telescopes, published by the Harvard University Press in 2004, McCray provides readers with a history of the giant telescope over approximately a fifty-year period. He begins with the earliest of the large, ground-based structures and the astronomers known as "cowboys" who first put them to use. He then chronicles the development of modern-day astronomic devices and their uses. Changes in the study of astronomy and its sociological importance were sometimes responsible for the changes in or further development of these telescopes, while at other times during their history the development of new telescope technology had a similar impact on the study of astrology as a whole. The linkage of the telescopes with other technology through computers and satellites proved to be a huge leap forward for the efficient usage of the devices. McCray also discusses the disputes through the decades over who should control various telescopes and determine what projects would best benefit from access to them and their data. Stephen P. Maron, in a review for Sky & Telescope, remarked that "McCray salts the text with diverse anecdotes," but went on to note that "such tales don't distract from the major thrust in this history: the story of the skirmishes and sieges that determined how great telescopes like Gemini and Keck were built while other cherished projects … fell victim to new ways of organizing the astronomy profession." Eric J. Chaisson, in a review for the American Scientist, praised the book overall, but commented: "McCray was not a player in, or even a witness to, any of the decisive events he describes. That may make it easier for him to be objective as he assesses the record, but it also means that he lacks an insider's view."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Scientist, January 1, 2005, Eric J. Chaisson, "Astropolitics," p. 82.

Astronomy, September, 2004, review of Giant Telescopes: Astronomical Ambition and the Promise of Technology, p. 92.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, June, 2000, P. Emison, review of Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice: The Fragile Craft, p. 1802; September, 2004, J.R. Kraus, review of Giant Telescopes, p. 127.

Civil Engineering, April, 2004, Ray Bert, review of Giant Telescopes, p. 77.

Isis, September, 2003, Christine MacLeod, review of Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice, p. 522; March, 2007, Jordan D. Marche, review of Giant Telescopes, p. 215.

Journal for the History of Astronomy, May, 2006, C.R. O'Dell, review of Giant Telescopes, p. 245.

Materials World, February, 2005, "Starry, Starry Night," p. 42.

Nature, August 19, 2004, "Seeing Stars in a Big Way: The Gemini Project Typifies the Growth of Astronomy into ‘Big Science,’" p. 833.

New Scientist, May 29, 2004, "Looking Up," p. 53.

Physics Today, April, 2005, Harland W. Epps, review of Giant Telescopes, p. 65.

SciTech Book News, June, 2000, review of Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice, p. 147.

Sixteenth Century Journal, spring, 2001, Rachel Hostetter Smith, review of Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice.

Sky & Telescope, August, 2004, "Telescope Politics," p. 117.

Technology and Culture, October, 2001, Mary Henninger-Voss, review of Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice, p. 795; January, 2005, Joseph N. Tatarewicz, review of Giant Telescopes, p. 238.

Times Higher Education Supplement, July 23, 2004, "Size Does Matter in the Mirror," p. 26.

ONLINE

University of California at Santa Barbara Web site,http://www.history.ucsb.edu/ (February 16, 2008), faculty profile.