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Rebecca Charbonneau

@rebeccacharbon.bsky.social
698 followers 503 following 47 posts

Historian of Science at The American Institute of Physics. Adjunct Asst Scientist at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Research Fellow at the SETI Institute. Author of Mixed Signals: Alien Communication Across the Iron Curtain.

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Reposted by Rebecca Charbonneau
American Astronomical Society (AAS) @aas.org · 03/09/2026
🔭 Meet #AAS249 plenary speaker: Rebecca Charbonneau! Historian at AIP, SETI Institute Fellow, and NRAO scientist studying the history of radio astronomy & technosignatures. Don't miss her talk in Salt Lake City — early registration closes 12 Oct. aas.org/meetings/aas... @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social
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Jason Wright @astrowright.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
The Ĝ survey is back! @pseticenter.bsky.social's Olivia Curtis presents the pipeline we're going to use to drop the ceiling on our upper limits for KIII species on a galaxy-by-galaxy basis from the 50-80% of intercepted starlight in our previous work down to 4-20%. arxiv.org/abs/2608.12458
arxiv.org
The Ĝ Infrared Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations with Large Energy Supplies. V. When Galaxies Glow with Industry
We present the most robust stellar population synthesis (SPS)-based search for galaxy-spanning technological waste heat to date, applied to 129 nearby galaxies spanning a wide range of spectral energy...
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Today's AIP History Weekly Edition republishes part 1 of a whirlwind tour of the history of astrophysics that @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social wrote for our most recent print newsletter. The underlying theme is the astonishing evolution of astrophysicists' ability to know about the universe.
aip.org
Scenes from the making of astrophysics, part 1
AIP History Weekly Edition: August 14, 2026
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Reposted by Rebecca Charbonneau
Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
The Seventh AIP Early-Career Conference for Historians of the Physical Sciences will take place in Toronto, Canada, June 21-25, 2027. Supplementary travel funding provided. The call for submissions is now open and closes November 15. Details here: www.aip.org/history/earl...
Toronto skyline
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
In today's AIP History Weekly Edition, @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social looks at a new article by Gabriela Rădulescu that draws links between Iosif Shklovsky's ideas about an evolutionary cosmos and support in the USSR for work on interstellar communication.
aip.org
Article spotlight: Gabriela Rădulescu on Soviet SETI
AIP History Weekly Edition: July 24, 2026
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Reposted by Rebecca Charbonneau
Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 03/04/2026
This image of home just came down from the Artemis II crew. Taken after their translunar injection burn, there are aurorae at top right and lower left, and zodiacal light at lower right. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman
That's home. That's us.
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Reposted by Rebecca Charbonneau
Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
In today's AIP History Weekly Edition, @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social looks at Eun-Joo Ahn's recent @hsnatsci.bsky.social article on how perilous road construction in the San Gabriel Mtns, undertaken by immigrant Japanese laborers, made Mount Wilson Observatory possible. 📷 from Huntington Library.
aip.org
Article spotlight: Eun-Joo Ahn on the road to Mount Wilson Observatory
AIP History Weekly Edition: March 13, 2026
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Daniel Pomarède @pomarede.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
From the AIP History Weekly Newsletter: Article spotlight: Eun-Joo Ahn on the road to Mount Wilson Observatory by Rebecca Charbonneau, American Institute of Physics www.aip.org/history/arti... 🧪🔭 @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social @aiphistory.bsky.social
aip.org
Article spotlight: Eun-Joo Ahn on the road to Mount Wilson Observatory
AIP History Weekly Edition: March 13, 2026
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
In today's AIP History Weekly Edition, @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social looks at a new issue of Centaurus examining what is and is not distinctive about the new era of "multi-messenger" astronomy. 📷IceCube Laboratory and South Pole Telescope, Moreno Baricevic, IceCube / NSF.
aip.org
Special issue spotlight: Shaping a multi-messenger universe
AIP History Weekly Edition: January 30, 2026
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Trevor Owens @tjowens.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
I’m excited to share this opportunity for an early-career social scientist on the @aip.bsky.social research team. Please share with anyone interested in putting social science research skills to work to empower positive change in the physical sciences. workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...
workforcenow.adp.com
Recruitment
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Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
NRAO has summer research opportunities for undergrads! science.nrao.edu/opportunitie...
science.nrao.edu
Summer Student Research Assistantships
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Jason Wright @astrowright.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
My textbook on SETI is published! I hope you like it! Please see if your libraries offer a free download—mine does! iopscience.iop.org/book/mono/97... 🧪🔭
iopscience.iop.org
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Theory and practice
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Theory and practice, Wright, Jason T
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
In today's AIP History Weekly Edition, we look at recent articles by @rhiggitt.bsky.social and Yuto Ishibashi, which show how record-keeping, history, and institutional governance intertwined during the centuries-long evolution of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.
aip.org
History and the governance of the Royal Observatory
AIP History Weekly Edition: January 9, 2026
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Ryan Dahn @ryandahn.com · 05/01/2026
tragic news for historians of astronomy... www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/c...
nytimes.com
NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
It can sometimes feel like the history of the physical sciences is on its back foot. The AIP History Weekly Edition set out to show that, globally, there's so much going on that you can talk about it weekly and not get to everything. Here's some of what we couldn't get to in 2025. #histsci
aip.org
A New Year’s open-access smorgasbord
AIP History Weekly Edition: January 2, 2026
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
Before the holiday break, @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social queued up a spotlight on Peter Pesic's @physicspip.bsky.social article on Einstein's sockless ways. It addresses not only Einstein's motivations, but also the cultural reasons behind why it was a topic of fascination www.aip.org/history/pete...
aip.org
Article Spotlight: Peter Pesic on Einstein’s socks
AIP History Weekly Update: December 26, 2025
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
The semiannual AIP History Newsletter is out! The feature article highlights a surge in scholarship around experiments on quantum entanglement. The topic is most associated with tests of Bell's theorem but the history predates and is broader than those efforts. aip.brightspotcdn.com/83/0f/cc825f...
A diagram of Carl Kocher's apparatus to test photon correlation, which John Clauser and Stuart Freedman later adapted for their test of Bell's theorem.
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Luisa Bonolis and Stefano Furlan have a pair of articles in European Physical Journal H on the emergence of scientists' understanding of the universe as awash in physically extreme phenomena. @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social looks at how this shift in perspective transformed the culture of astronomy.
aip.org
Article spotlight: The “violent universe” and modern astrophysics
AIP History Weekly Edition: December 5, 2025
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Jason Wright @astrowright.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Come work with us at Penn State! The Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds is hiring postdocs, and welcomes applicants who can make connections with its sibling centers like @pseticenter.bsky.social doing SETI, Astrobiology, and Planetary Systems Science: aas.org/jobregister/...
aas.org
Postdoctoral Research Positions at Penn State Center for Exoplanets & Habitable Worlds | American Astronomical Society
The Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds (CEHW) at Penn State invite applications for one or more Postdoctoral Researcher positions.
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
We've squeezed in one last AIP Lyne Starling Trimble Public Event for 2025. Come to our DC location at 6pm on Wednesday, December 10 to catch David DeVorkin's lecture, "The Quiet Genius of George Carruthers." RSVP here: www.aip.org/history/davi...
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 18/11/2025
🔭
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Hello again, #HSS2025! Despite the Sheraton's weird elevator system, I've made it to the Oak Alley Room for a panel on Astronomical Futures during the #ColdWar. Our 1st speaker, @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social, is discussing the history of #SETI, including Project Ozma. www.seti.org/research/set...
Rebecca Charbonneau discusses Project Ozma at HSS 2025
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UCL SSEES Library @uclsseeslibrary.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Hope everyone had a good break over Easter. We're back to our regular opening hours from today: Monday-Friday 09:00-21:00, Saturday 10:00-17:00. Don't forget to check out our #NewBooks display if you are in the Library! 📚📚😊
Selection of new books on display in the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies Library. Eleven volumes arranged on a stand. Featured titles include:
Looking at Women Looking at War - Victoria Amelina,
The Last Days of Budapest - Adam LeBor,
The Last Peasant War - Jakub Benes,
Contemporary Russia - Edwin Bacon,
Narratives of the Russo-Ukrainian War - Oleksandr Pankieiev,
Putin's Digital Front and the Truth Behind - Steven Broschart,
Mixed Signals: Alien Communication across the Iron Curtain - Rebecca Charbonneau,
Reading Russian Literature, 1980-2024, Literary Consumption, Memory and Identity,
Their Faraway Home: The Story of Croats in New Zealand through publications,
Kino Polonia,
A Voice from the Lost Town of Trochenbrod.
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
In today's AIP History Weekly Edition, guest contributor Don Opitz looks at the multitudinous scholarly and professional contributions of the late Margaret Rossiter in creating a historiography of women in science. #HPS
aip.org
In memoriam: Margaret Walsh Rossiter, pathbreaker in “writing women into science”
AIP History Weekly Edition: October 24, 2025
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Rebecca Charbonneau @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
🚀 We’re hiring a 3-year Postdoctoral Fellow in history of science/STS to join my team at the American Institute of Physics! If you're looking for a fellowship opportunity in the history of the physical sciences post-1850, please see our ad for more details: workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...
workforcenow.adp.com
Recruitment
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Reposted by Rebecca Charbonneau
Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
At AIP we've launched a new policy research program to go deep on current questions and pull together more comprehensive pictures. Leading this work, Lindsay Milliken has produced her first public product, a primer on the new $100,000 fee on H-1B petitions.
aip.org
Policy primer: A new $100,000 fee on H-1B Visas
President Trump has issued a proclamation requiring a $100,000 payment for each new H-1B petition. We examine what it does and does not do, how it is being justified, and what developments to look out...
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Trevor Owens @tjowens.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
📣 AIP's Niels Bohr Library and Archives is collecting personal stories from scientists, engineers, students & others in the physical sciences whose careers have been impacted by recent U.S. policy & funding changes. Learn more about how to get involved here -> www.aip.org/library/ex-l...
aip.org
Physical Science Careers Disrupted
Documenting the Impact of Federal Funding & Policy Changes
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Trevor Owens @tjowens.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
The August edition of the AIP History Monthly is out—and it’s packed with exciting updates, new resources, and ways to get involved in preserving and interpreting the history of the physical sciences. -> www.aip.org/history/aip-...
aip.org
August 2025
AIP History August Update
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Physics Today @physicstoday.aip.org · 03/09/2025
Despite working in a time of tense diplomatic relations, proxy wars, and budget cuts, many US and Soviet scientists collaborated productively during the 1970s and 1980s, writes Anna Doel. Prior exchanges help better understand the challenges to scientific cooperation today. bit.ly/4neNFWQ
pubs.aip.org
The successes and challenges of US–Soviet scientific communication
Research exchanges between US and Soviet scientists during the second half of the 20th century may be instructive for navigating today’s debates on scientific collaboration.
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Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Huge thank you to AIP (@aip.bsky.social) History and Rebecca Charbonneau (@rebeccacharbon.bsky.social) for spotlighting my latest article! 🤩 #ligo #physics #history #histstem
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
For the fuller story of how NSF took over site selection and decided to place the detectors at Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana, check out Tiffany's lecture here at AIP this past spring
youtube.com
Tiffany Nichols : An Eclectic Array of Expertise:The Federal-Level Site Selection History of LIGO
YouTube video by AIP History
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
AIP historian @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social has a new article out in @physicstoday.bsky.social looking at a US-Soviet collaboration in the 1960s to combine observations of radio telescopes across the globe, a powerful early initiative in very long baseline interferometry.
pubs.aip.org
From radio with love: A Cold War astronomical collaboration
To construct an interferometer with a baseline spanning the planet, US radio astronomers reached out to their Soviet counterparts.
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
In this week's history newsletter from AIP, @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social spotlights the new article by @tiffanynichols.bsky.social in Isis, digging into the rise and fall of an early proposal to site a @ligo.org detector in Maine's Blueberry Barrens.
aip.org
Article spotlight: When LIGO might have been in Maine
AIP History Weekly Edition: August 22, 2025
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Rebecca Charbonneau @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
I wrote a short article on my research in the history of VLBI for Physics Today this week :-) pubs.aip.org/physicstoday...
pubs.aip.org
From radio with love: A Cold War astronomical collaboration
To construct an interferometer with a baseline spanning the planet, US radio astronomers reached out to their Soviet counterparts.
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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
A huge loss for NASA science. Another self-inflicted wound to our national science portfolio.
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Rebecca Charbonneau @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
Finished knitting my fishy sweater! Now I’m ready for fall.
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Jason Wright @astrowright.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
It gets worse and worse. If you're interested in the slow-motion train wreck that is Avi's sci-comm on this, here are some of the latest (it's very hard to keep up!) In which spacecraft can have comae, 3I/ATLAS has a 60% chance of being alien, and new papers validate and adopt his calculations.
sites.psu.edu
More Avi and 3I/ATLAS
Following up on this and this: Today images from the Hubble Space Telescope were published by Jewitt et al., and they show the coma of 3I/ATLAS very well: Would this be enough to convince Avi that it’...
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Rebecca Charbonneau @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
More photos from @aip.bsky.social Early Career Conference for Historians of the Physical Sciences! Too bad they couldn’t find us a meeting space with better views ;-)
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Rebecca Charbonneau @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Monkey spotting at lunch during @aip.bsky.social Early Career Conference for Historians of the Physical Sciences in Salvador, Brazil 😆🐒
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
We're heading to Salvador, Brazil, for the Sixth AIP Early-Career Conference for Historians of the Physical Sciences. This #histsci meeting gathers young scholars from the world over to exchange work and build a supportive global community. Check out what folks are working on these days:
aip.org
Conference program: Sixth AIP Early-Career Conference for Historians of the Physical Sciences
AIP History Weekly Edition for August 1, 2025
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
I've long been a fanboy of the Cambridge HPS / National Maritime Museum Board of Longitude project. It recovered a rich institutional history from a heavily mythologized narrative and digitized the board's papers too. Its capstone book is an excellent contribution to #histSTM & #scipol studies.
aip.org
July 25, 2025
Book spotlight: The Board of Longitude
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Rebecca Charbonneau @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Doing a SETI History AMA on r/AskScience, if anyone is curious :-) www.reddit.com/r/askscience...
reddit.com
AskScience AMA Series: I'm a historian of science who studies humanity's search for extraterrestrial intelligence - from our earliest theories to modern SETI. Ask Me Anything!
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Trevor Owens @tjowens.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
🔭 Last month, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory wowed the world with its first ultra-high-resolution images. Ahead of Rubin’s 97th on July 23rd, @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social spotlights Rubin's 1989 oral history with Alan Lightman in this week’s AIP History Weekly. -> www.aip.org/history/oral...
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
For those who missed it over the 4th, Women in the History of Quantum Physics is a great example of what a multi-author effort can accomplish. Available now from Cambridge UP www.cambridge.org/us/universit...
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Dr. Haris A. Durrani @hdernity.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Excited to speak @shafrhistorians.bsky.social #shafr2025 this week - I'll present on Cuba & communications satellite regulation in the global Cold War Honored to join the panel Empire, Security & Militarism in the Final Frontier w Andrew Ross, @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social, @aaronbateman.bsky.social
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
It was a gravitational spring here at AIP, with our three excellent Trimble lectures: -Peter Galison on imaging black holes -Jaco de Swart on the hunt for dark matter particles -Tiffany Nichols on siting the LIGO gravitational wave detectors Videos here: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Three side-by-side images of, respectively, Peter Galison, Jaco de Swart, and Tiffany Nichols lecturing.
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Nadia Drake @nadiadrake.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
"You’re punching a generation-size hole, maybe a multigenerational hole, in the scientific and technical workforce. You don’t just Cryovac these people and pull them out when the money comes back. People are going to move on.” www.scientificamerican.com/article/prop...
scientificamerican.com
This Budget Plan Would Devastate U.S. Space Science
Scientists are rallying to reverse ruinous proposed cuts to both NASA and the National Science Foundation
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Rebecca Charbonneau @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
Hey @jaimealyse.bsky.social we’re shelf mates :-)
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Liz Kalaugher @lizkalaugher.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Delighted to be on the shelves of Bristol's Storysmith Books with such excellent company as @helenlpgordon.bsky.social Damian LeBas, Nicholas Jubber and @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
I'd like to thank @tiffanynichols.bsky.social for visiting us at AIP on Friday and giving us a great #histsci talk on how the sites of LIGO's twin interferometers were chosen. The video is now available here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTeX...
youtube.com
Tiffany Nichols : An Eclectic Array of Expertise:The Federal-Level Site Selection History of LIGO
YouTube video by AIP History
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