Andrew Fraknoi

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name = Andrew Fraknoi
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birth_date = Birth date and age|1948|08|24
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field = astronomy, astronomy education
work_institutions = Foothill College & Astronomical Society of the Pacific
alma_mater = Harvard College, The University of California, Berkeley
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prizes = 2007 California Professor of the Year
2007 Richard H. Emmons Award
2007 Gemant Prize
1994 Annenberg Foundation Award
1994 Klumpke-Roberts Award
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Andrew Fraknoi, M.A., is an astronomy professor at Foothill College [ [http://www.foothill.edu/ast/afraknoi.htm Andrew Fraknoi ] ] and the 2007 California Professor of the Year awarded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. [ [http://www.astrosociety.org/news/fraknoi.html ASP: Former ASP Executive Director Andrew Fraknoi Named 2007 California Professor of the Year ] ] Fraknoi also won the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's 2007 Richard H. Emmons award, [ [http://www.astrosociety.org/membership/awards/bios/fraknoi.html 2007 ASP Annual Award Winners ] ] the American Institute of Physics's 2007 Andrew Gemant Award (given for a lifetime of contributions to the intersection of physics and culture), and the American Astronomical Society's 1994 Annenberg Foundation Award (for a lifetime of contributions to astronomy education.)

Fraknoi served as the Executive Director of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific from 1978 to 1992, edited its popular-level magazine, "Mercury", and founded its newsletter for teachers, called "The Universe in the Classroom". He is the lead author of "Voyages through the Universe", an introductory college astronomy textbook, now in its third edition, published by Brooks-Cole. In 2007, his first children's book, entitled "Wonderful World of Space", was published by Disney. With Sidney Wolff, Fraknoi founded and is co-editor of the first on-lin journal devoted to astronomy education, "Astronomy Education Review" (found at: http://aer.noao.edu).

In addition to astronomy, Fraknoi also teaches courses in "physics for poets." His interdisciplinary course on Einstein's life and work, Physics 12, won the 2005 “Innovation of the Year” award from the League for Innovation. In the course, students learn about some of the areas on modern physics that Einstein had a role in creating or changing, and then read novels, stories, and poems, and hear music influenced by Einstein's work and ideas.

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