My name is Gary L Cameron, PhD
My e-mail address is gcameron@email.iastate.edu
My campus address is

210 Physics Hall, Ames, IA 50011

Astronomical history is my passion. In addition to my research, I preserve, 
restore and repair historic telescopes and spyglasses. 

I am a Lecturer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Iowa State 
University. http://www.physastro.iastate.edu/

My research interests include the history of science education; the use of 
history in STEM education in informal learning contexts; innovative astronomy 
and physics teaching practices; the development of telescopes and other 
scientific instruments; science popularization; and twentieth-century European 
and U.S. pseudoscience.

I’ve taught college-level astronomy for fourteen years. My teaching experience 
includes courses in the history of science, the history of popular culture, 
Western civilization, and American history. In the summer of 2012 I taught 
physics to talented and gifted junior high and high school students through the 
ISU CY-TAG program. 

In “Perfecting ‘A Sharper Image’: Telescope-Making and the Dissemination of 
Technical Knowledge, 1700-1820,” which will appear in the Journal of 
Astronomical History and Heritage, I discuss the factors which influenced 
the quality of telescopes produced by for-profit artisans in contrast to those 
produced by amateur ‘gentleman-philosophers.’

My article, “A Collision of World Views: ‘Alternative Cosmologies’ and Science 
Popularization in the International Political Context,” is currently under 
revision. It deals with the reaction of American and Western European 
astronomers to astrology and pseudoscientific theories, such as those of 
Velikovsky. 

Genres I’ve written in for publication also include institutional histories and 
historical biographies. I’ve written entries on Charles S. Hastings, Alvan Clark 
and Sons, William Augustus Norton, George Willis Ritchey, and James Gilbert 
Baker for The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomy.

My forthcoming manuscript,  Forging the Future: The History of Engineering at 
Iowa State University, brings to life the people, disciplines, and public 
service that have combined in engineering education at the University since 
1868. It’s an enjoyable and scholarly work combining pictures and text to tell 
the story of the changes in engineering teaching and research at ISU through 
various eras of American and Iowa history.

I completed my Ph.D. in History of Technology and Science at Iowa State 
University in 2010. My dissertation,  Public Skies: Telescopes and the 
Popularization of Astronomy in the Twentieth Century, examined amateur of 
astronomical communities in the U.S., Europe, and Japan and telescope making 
from the 1800s to the 1960s in relation to science, technology, popular culture, 
and economics. 

I am on the council of the Midwest Junto for the History of Science. I am also a 
long-time member of the Antique Telescope Society, the American Astronomical 
Society’s Historical Astronomy Division, and the History of Science Society. 
Some of my other memberships include the Society for the History of Technology, 
the American Historical Association, the American Association for State and 
Local History, the National Council for Public History, the Iowa Museum 
Association, and the Iowa Conservation and Preservation Consortium.

As a public historian I have professional experience in museum and archival 
work, creating living history programs, exhibit design and fabrication, historic 
preservation, and architectural history and restoration. I’ve provided training 
on many topics in public history, conservation, and preservation. My training 
includes many areas of preservation and conservation, such as historic paint 
analysis, restoration and repair of historic furniture, and restoration and 
repair of historic windows.