Celestial Sleuth : Using Astronomy to Solve Mysteries in Art, History and Literature

Dr. Donald Olson is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Texas State University, but prefers the terms “Celestial Sleuth.” Olson received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California-Berkeley, and after studying galaxy structure for two years at the University of Texas at Austin, he settled into Texas State, where he has been teaching since the early 1980s.

Over the past 25 years (1987-2012), the reputation of his department at Texas State University has been established by the publication of more than 40 articles published in such periodicals as The New York Times and Smithsonian Magazine. His work blurs the line between the hard science of forensic astronomy and the humanities. A longtime connoisseur of art and literature, Olson was approached in 1987 with a proposition that would help him merge the arts with his expertise in astronomy. An English professor asked for his help in interpreting astronomical references in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.” Shortly afterward, a history professor had a similar request, this time looking at the impact of moonlight and the tides on the amphibious invasion at the Battle of Tarawa during World War II. He has since then gone on to be published in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Sky and Telescope, and Smithsonian magazine, which called Olson “…the leading practitioner of…'forensic astronomy’.”