Deborah Blum: Difference between revisions

Deborah Blum (born October 19, 1954) is an American journalist and the director of the Knight Science Journalism program at the

After earning a master's degree in environmental journalism from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Blum returned to the Fresno Bee, where she became an award-winning environmental reporter. She was the first to report on the startling incidence of severely deformed waterfowl at the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge, where poor management of irrigation runoff had polluted the wetland with toxic levels of the element selenium. Her work for the Fresno Bee put the mid-sized paper ahead of much larger regional rivals, including the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times in covering this major environmental story.

Science writing and teaching

In 1984, Blum joined the staff of the Sacramento Bee, where she broadened her range, covering science subjects as diverse as medical issues, superconductivity, and the physics of weaponry. Her series "California: The Weapons Master" was awarded the 1987 Livingston Award for National Reporting. In 1992 the American Association for the Advancement of Science awarded her its AAAS-Westinghouse Award for Science Journalism, also for the "Monkey Wars" series.

Blum expanded the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper series into a book of the same title. Her second book, Sex on the Brain examines the biological differences between men and women. In Love at Goon Park, she explores the life and career of groundbreaking psychology researcher Harry Harlow, and in Ghost Hunters she follows a quest by 19th century psychologist-philosopher William James and colleagues to apply objective scientific methods to the study of paranormal phenomena. In The Poisoner's Handbook she explores the pioneering work of two unheralded scientists who paved the way for modern forensic detectives.^[5] This book was promoted on Point of Inquiry.^[6] She received the James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public from the American Chemical Society in 2015 for this book.^[7]

Blum has written, most often about science and its interrelationship with American culture, for publications that have included the New York Times,

From 1997 until 2015, she was a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In 2005 she was appointed Helen Firstbrook Franklin Professor of Journalism, an endowed faculty position within the University of Wisconsin journalism school. In July 2015, she became director of Knight Science Journalism at MIT.^[12]

A past president of the

In 2015, after Nobel Prize winning biochemist Tim Hunt made a controversial speech about women in science, Blum was one of three journalists present who initially broke the story. Although acknowledging that parts of it praised women scientists, she wrote that she found Hunt's speech troubling even after she asked him for clarification.^[15][16] Reporting on accusations that Hunt had been taken out of context, conflicting recollections of the phrase "now seriously" became a focal point for many commentators. Blum stated that she did not remember whether or not he spoke these words.^[17] Former UK member of Parliament Louise Mensch has documented what she considers to be factual and ethical shortcomings in Blum's account of Hunt's remarks.^[18] These claims have been disputed by British journalist and author Dan Waddell, who argues that they are politically motivated.^[19][20][21]

Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT

Blum became director of the Knight Science Journalism Program, a highly respected mid-career fellowship program endowed by the James S. and John L. Knight Foundation, in July 2015. The following year, she expanded on the fellowship program by launching Undark, a new digital science magazine, dedicated to exploring the intersection of science and society. The magazine's debut, in March 2016, was hailed by the Columbia Journalism Review in a story titled, "Can Undark Go Where No Other Online Science Magazine Has Gone Before?"^[22] The magazine's founding editor in chief is Tom Zeller, long time environment writer for The New York Times. In July 2016, David Corcoran, former editor of Science Times at The New York Times, joined the program as a senior editor at the magazine and associate director of the program.

Personal life

Blum is the eldest of four daughters born to

and his wife Nancy Ann Blum, an educator and writer.

Blum and her husband have raised two sons.

Selected bibliography

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (June 2016)

Books

• Blum, Deborah (1994). The Monkey Wars. New York: Oxford University Press. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |1= and |authormask= (help)
• A Field Guide for Science Writers: the official guide of the National Association of Science Writers (1997; 2nd ed., 2006), edited by Blum, Mary Knudson, and Robin Marantz Henig
• Sex on the Brain: the biological differences between men and women (1997) — a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1997
• Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the science of affection (2002) — named among the best books of 2002 by
  National Public Radio
  and Discover magazine, finalist for Los Angeles Times 2002 Book Prize
• Ghost Hunters: William James and the search for scientific proof of life after death (2006)
• The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York (2010)
• Angel Killer: A True Story of Cannibalism, Crime Fighting, and Insanity in New York City ^{[full citation needed]}