Dava Sobel

Freelance

Dava Sobel wrote Longitude, which won the 1997 British Book of the Year award, and A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos.

Written by Dava Sobel

Illustration of a man in a white coat holding a giant clock labelled UTC with a city skyline in the background at dusk.

essay

Cosmology

The wait of the world

Ditching the leap second would mean decoupling clock time from the Earth’s rotation – from day and night itself

Dava Sobel

People silhouetted against a sunset, standing near telescopes, with mountains in the background.

essay

Astronomy

Venus still beguiles

Astro-tourism, air travel and nifty apps gave Venus’s 2012 transit a democratic edge over astronomy’s historic heroism

Dava Sobel