Marcia Bartusiak has covered the fields of astronomy and physics for more than three decades and has published in a variety of publications, including Science, Smithsonian, Discover, National Geographic, and Astronomy. She was among the first to report on such discoveries as dark matter, meteorites from Mars, and the universe’s bubbly large-scale structure. More recently, she has delved into science history with such books as Black Hole and The Day We Found the Universe, which received the History of Science Society’s 2010 Davis Prize for best history of science book for the public. Her latest book, Dispatches from Planet 3: Thirty-Two (Brief) Tales on the Solar System, the Milky Way, and Beyond, is a collection of essays designed to give readers a deeper understanding of the nature of the universe and those who strive to uncover its mysteries.

Bartusiak received the prestigious Andrew Gemant Award from the American Institute of Physics in 2006 for her contributions to the cultural, artistic, and humanistic dimension of physics, and in 2008 was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She lives in Sudbury with her husband, mathematician Steve Lowe, and their bearded collie named Hubble.