Asif Azam Siddiqi

Asif Azam Siddiqi is a Bangladeshi American space historian. He currently serves as an assistant professor of history at Fordham University. [http://www.fordham.edu/history/faculty/siddiqi.shtml] He specializes in the history of science and technology and modern Russian history. He has written several books on the space race between the U.S. and the USSR during the Cold War. His book " Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945-1974" is widely considered to be the best English-language history of the Soviet space program in print and was identified by the Wall Street Journal as "one of the five best books" on space exploration. [ [http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/fivebest/?id=110009458 The Wall Street Journal Online - Five Best ] ] [http://www.sajaforum.org/2006/12/books_asif.html SAJAforum: BOOKS: Asif Siddiqi's Book Among Five Best Space Books ] ] [ [http://www.fordham.edu/campus_resources/public_affairs/inside_fordham/march_2_2007/news/wall_street_journal__25309.asp Wall Street Journal Names Professor's Book Among Top Five ] ] This book was later published in paperback in two separate volumes, "Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge" and "The Soviet Space Race with Apollo".

Siddiqi's major contribution to space history scholarship has been to apply academic training, theory, and methodology to the study of Soviet space history. Siddiqi utilized newly available archival materials from Russia, published works such as memoirs, and other sources and essentially pioneered Soviet space history scholarship in the post Cold War-era. Even current Russian-based space history tends to rely heavily upon memoirs and as a result Siddiqi is acknowledged by Russian space officials as one of the few people conducting original archival research on the subject worldwide. His articles have been published in the leading Russian space journal "Novosti kosmonavtiki" (News of Cosmonautics) [ [http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/content/numbers/295/36.shtml Королёв - взгляд с Запада ] ] as well as the official history journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences, "Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniia i tekhniki" (Problems in the History of Natural Sciences and Technology). He also regularly publishes pieces in the Moscow English language daily, Moscow Times. [ [http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/09/28/105.html CONTEXT - This Week in Arts and Ideas from The Moscow Times ] ] [ [http://context.themoscowtimes.com/print.php?aid=185451 CONTEXT - This Week in Arts and Ideas from The Moscow Times ] ]

Siddiqi is also the editor of the series "Rockets and People" which are the four volume English-language translation of the memoirs of Boris Chertok, a leading designer who worked under Korolev. These volumes are being published by the NASA History Division. [ [http://www1.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/postsecondary/features/F_Rockets_and_People.html NASA - 'Rockets and People' by Boris Chertok ] ]

He was featured in the NOVA WGBH-TV special "Astrospies" [ [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/astrospies/racetoday.html NOVA | Astrospies | The Race Today | PBS ] ] broadcast in 2008, and has been featured in various media as a specialist in the history of spaceflight.

He has received the American Historical Association's Fellowship in Aerospace History, [ [http://www.historians.org/prizes/awarded/NASAWinner.htm Fellowship in Aerospace History ] ] the Eugene Emme Award for Astronautical Literature, [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pasa/is_200203/ai_324601047 Nasa History Volume To Receive Emme Award | Nasa | Find Articles At Bnet ] ] the History Manuscript Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, [ [http://www.aiaa.org/portal/index.cfm?adview=12&tcspageid=1347&getcomm=67 History Technical Committee ] ] and a National Science Foundation award for work on his Ph.D. dissertation. [ [http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0137857 Award#0137857 - Dissertation Research: The Rockets' Red Glare: State, Society, and Technological Innovation in the Soviet Union, 1917-1957 ] ]

He has published widely in many different journals, including the Osiris, Technology and Culture, "History and Technology", "Europe-Asia Studies", "Acta Astronautica", Air & Space, [ [http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/russian_space_dream.html Russia's Long Love Affair with Space | Space Exploration | Air & Space Magazine ] ] [ [http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/sputnik_creator.html The Man Behind the Curtain | Space Exploration | Air & Space Magazine ] ] "Journal of the British Interplanetary Society", and "Spaceflight." [ [http://faculty.fordham.edu/siddiqi/details/pubs/pubs.html Publications ] ]

Siddiqi received his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004. He is the son of Dr. Hafiz G. A. Siddiqi, vice-chancellor of North South University in Dhaka and Najma Siddiqi, a retired Professor of Philosophy at Jahangirnagar University.

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External links

* [http://faculty.fordham.edu/siddiqi/details/pubs/pubs.html List of Publications]