Dr. Jonathan McDowell

Dr. Jonathan McDowell is the editor of Jonathan’s Space Report, a free  internet newsletter founded in 1989 which provides  technical details of satellite launches. Dr. McDowell’s web site, planet4589.org, provides the most comprehensive historical list of satellite launch information starting with Sputnik, and he carries out research on space history topics using original sources including declassified DoD documents and Russian-language  publications.

McDowell is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA, USA. He studies black holes, quasars, and X-ray sources in galaxies, as well as developing data analysis software for the X-ray astronomy community. He currently leads the group which plans and tests the science analysis software for the Chandra space telescope. Dr. McDowell’s scientific publications include studies of cosmology, black holes, merging galaxies, quasars, and asteroids.

Dr. McDowell has a B.A in Mathematics (1981) and a Ph.D in Astrophysics (1987) from the University of Cambridge, England. Minor planet (4589) McDowell is named after him.