Mark Boslough

{{short description| Physicist with expertise in planetary impacts and global catastrophes}}

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Mark Boslough

|image = Mark Boslough CSICon 2018 Climate Literacy Workshop.jpg

|caption = Mark Boslough CSICon at 2018 Climate Literacy Workshop

|birth_date =

|birth_place = Iowa

|death_date =

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|nationality = American

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|field = Physics
Geophysics
Planetary Defense

|work_institutions = Los Alamos National Laboratory
University of New Mexico
Sandia National Laboratories |alma_mater = California Institute of Technology
Colorado State University

|doctoral_advisor = Thomas J. Ahrens

|doctoral_students =

|known_for =

|influences =

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|religion =

| homepage = {{URL|http://www.boslough.us/}}

| module = {{Listen

| filename = Audio Mark Boslough.wav

| title = Mark Boslough's voice

| type = speech

| description = recorded October 2016 at CSICon

}}

Mark Boslough is an American physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, research professor at University of New Mexico, fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and chair of the Asteroid Day Expert Panel. He is an expert in the study of planetary impacts and global catastrophes. Due to his work in this field, Asteroid 73520 Boslough (2003 MB1) was named in his honor.

Background and education

Boslough grew up in Broomfield, Colorado. He holds a B.S. in physics at Colorado State University, and an MS and PhD in applied physics at the California Institute of Technology.

Scientific career

An expert on planetary impacts and global catastrophes, Boslough's work on airbursts challenged the conventional view of asteroid collision risk and is now widely accepted by the scientific community.{{cite news|url=http://www.space.com/9256-forget-big-asteroids-smaller-rocks-sneak-blow.html |title=Forget Big Asteroids: It's the Smaller Rocks That Sneak In and Blow Up |work=Space.com |date=2010-10-05 |accessdate=2012-07-24}} He was the first scientist to suggest that the Libyan Desert Glass was formed by melting due to overhead heating from an airburst.{{cite conference|last1 = Crawford|first1 = D A|last2= Boslough|first2= M B|editor=de Michele, V|title=Collapse of interacting atmospheric plumes from bolide swarm: evidence in the geologic record?|conference= Silica '96: Meeting on Libyan Desert Glass and related desert events|conference-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iNNPAQAAIAAJ|date = 18 July 1996|location = Bologna University, Italy|publisher=Pyramids}} His hypothesis was popularized by the documentaries "Tutunkhamun's Fireball" (BBC),{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2334005/|title=Mark Boslough|website=IMDb }}{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5196362.stm |title=Science/Nature | Tut's gem hints at space impact |work=BBC News |date=2006-07-19 |accessdate=2012-07-24}} (recipient of Discover Magazine's Top 100 Science Stories of 2006){{cite web|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jan/cover |title=The Top 100 Science Stories of 2006 |publisher=DISCOVER Magazine |date=2007-01-08 |accessdate=2012-07-24}} and National Geographic's "Ancient Asteroid".{{cite web|title=Ancient Asteroid Ancient Asteroid|url=http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/ancient-asteroid/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120903231320/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/ancient-asteroid/|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 3, 2012|publisher=National Geographic|accessdate=2013-09-29}} Footage from the documentaries has been used to describe the controversial notion that a large airburst over North America caused an abrupt climate change mass extinction.{{cite web|title=North American Comet Catastrophe 10,900 BC Part 2| website=YouTube | date=12 June 2007 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2ld-lohrPw#t=4m47s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/I2ld-lohrPw |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|accessdate=2013-09-29}}{{cbignore}} However, Boslough has been a leading critic of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, arguing among other things that the proponents have misinterpreted his airburst models.{{cite book|last=Boslough|first=Mark|title=Arguments and Evidence Against a Younger Dryas Impact Event|year=2012|publisher=GEOPHYSICAL MONOGRAPH SERIES 198|pages=13–26 |author2=K. Nicoll |author3=V. Holliday |author4=T. L. Daulton |author5=D. Meltzer |author6=N. Pinter |author7=A. C. Scott |author8=T. Surovell |author9=P. Claeys |author10=J. Gill |author11=F. Paquay |author12=J. Marlon |author13=P. Bartlein |author14=C. Whitlock |author15=D. Grayson |author16=A. J. T. Jull}} He appeared as a skeptic on the "Last Extinction" Nova,{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/last-extinction.html |title=NOVA | Megabeasts' Sudden Death |publisher=Pbs.org |accessdate=2012-07-24}} (recipient of AAAS Kavli award for best science documentary of 2009).{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/about/tvaw.html |title=NOVA | Broadcast Awards Listed by Date |publisher=PBS |accessdate=2012-07-24}}

In 2011, he presented a paper at the IAA Planetary Defense Conference in Bucharest, Romania, in which he stated, "It is virtually certain (probability > 99%) that the next destructive NEO event will be an airburst."{{cite web|last=Boslough|first=Mark|title=Airburst Warning and Response|url=https://cfwebprod.sandia.gov/cfdocs/CCIM/docs/2166721_boslough.pdf|accessdate=2013-09-29}}{{Dead link|date=March 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} This prediction proved true less than two years later, on Feb. 15, 2013, when an airburst over Chelyabinsk, Russia injured more than 1000 people. Boslough was among the first western scientists to arrive in Chelyabinsk, where he did field research and accompanied a production crew filming Meteor Strike for Nova.{{Citation|title = Watch now: NOVA {{!}} Meteor Strike {{!}} PBS Video|url = http://video.pbs.org/video/2358778286/|accessdate = 2015-07-13}} Most of the documentaries are focused on his impact and airburst modeling.{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/modeling-comet-airburst.html |title=NOVA | Modeling a Comet Airburst |publisher=Pbs.org |date=2009-03-01 |accessdate=2012-07-24}}

In February 2011, it was announced that Boslough had been elected a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.{{cite web|url=http://www.csicop.org/news/press_releases/show/csi_announces_new_fellows |title=CSI | Press Releases |date=7 February 2011 |publisher=Csicop.org |accessdate=2012-07-24}}

In 2014, Boslough delivered a major address on "death plunge" asteroids that can pose a sudden danger to Earth at the second Starmus Festival in the Canary Islands. Also in 2014 he talks about his interest in asteroids to Toni Feder of Physics Today: "In his childhood home in Colorado, says Boslough, "there was a left-brain right-brain thing going on, with fiction and nonfiction in the same household."{{Cite journal|title = A passion for asteroids|url = http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/magazine/physicstoday/news/10.1063/PT.5.9020|journal = Physics Today|date = 2014-09-02|issn = 0031-9228|doi = 10.1063/PT.5.9020|first = Toni|last = Feder| issue=9 | page=11974 | bibcode=2014PhT..2014i1974F }}

In recognition of Boslough's work in the field of planetary impacts and global catastrophes, Asteroid 73520 Boslough (2003 MB1) was named in his honor.{{cite web|title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?orb=1;sstr=73520|publisher=NASA|accessdate=2012-11-23}}

=Scientific skepticism=

Boslough is a vocal critic of pseudoscience and anti-science and has written about climate change denial in the Skeptical Inquirer in reference to "Climategate" conspiracy theories.{{cite web|author=Mark Boslough |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/mann_bites_dog_why_climategate_was_newsworthy |title=CSI | Mann Bites Dog: Why 'Climategate' Was Newsworthy |date=March 2010 |publisher=Csicop.org |accessdate=2012-07-24}} He is also active in uncovering scientific misconduct.{{cite web|url=http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2010AM/finalprogram/abstract_178248.htm |title=Misrepresentations Of Sargasso Sea Temperatures By Arthur B. Robinson Et Al |publisher=Gsa.confex.com |date=2010-11-03 |accessdate=2012-07-24}}{{cite web |url=http://www.miller-mccune.com/science/comet-claim-comes-crashing-to-earth-31180/ |title=Comet Theory Comes Crashing to Earth |publisher=Miller-mccune.com |date=2011-05-14 |accessdate=2012-07-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407090947/http://www.miller-mccune.com/science/comet-claim-comes-crashing-to-earth-31180/ |archivedate=2012-04-07 }}{{Cite Q |Q110293090 |last1=Boslough |first1=Mark |author-link1=Mark Boslough |name-list-style=vanc}}

=Humor=

An advocate of using humor to defend science,{{cite news|url=http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/April-Fools--Day-Sandia-labs-prankster---unleashed--cyberstorm- |title=Sandia labs prankster unleashed cyberstorm of laughs |newspaper=The Santa Fe New Mexican |accessdate=2012-07-24}} he once published an essay as an April Fool's Day joke in the April, 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter to poke fun at New Mexico's legislature for attempting to require schools to teach creationism. He wrote that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the 'Biblical value' of 3.0. The article was posted on a newsgroup and passed around to people via email, causing an outrage. When people started calling the Alabama legislature to protest, the joke was revealed.{{cite web|url=http://www.nmsr.org/alabama.htm |title=Alabama π! |publisher=Nmsr.org |accessdate=2012-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000818053902/http://www.nmsr.org/alabama.htm |archive-date=August 18, 2000 |url-status=usurped}} National Geographic News highlighted Boslough's story when it compiled a list of "some of the more memorable hoaxes in recent history."{{cite web|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0331_040331_aprilfoolshoax.html |title=April Fools' Special: History's Hoaxes |publisher=News.nationalgeographic.com |date=2010-10-28 |accessdate=2012-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040604110218/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0331_040331_aprilfoolshoax.html |archive-date=June 4, 2004 |url-status=dead}} It was elevated by the Museum of Hoaxes to number seven on its "Top 100 April Fools Hoaxes of All Time" list.{{cite web|url=http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/ |title=Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes Of All Time |publisher=Museumofhoaxes.com |accessdate=2012-07-24}} It eventually took on a new existence as an urban legend and has had to be debunked by Snopes.{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/religion/pi.asp |title=Redefinition of Pi |date=28 October 1998 |publisher=snopes.com |accessdate=2012-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128105406/http://www.snopes.com/religion/pi.asp |archive-date=2022-01-28 |url-status=live}}

He also demonstrated that emailed lists of "Darwin Awards" include fake stories. After receiving an annual list of unfortunate deaths at the end of 1998, he fabricated his own over-the-top fictional Darwin Award recipient, appended it, and forwarded the list to his friends. That story also went viral, was printed as an actual event by the Denver Post, leading to another debunking by Snopes.{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/microwave.asp |title=Microwaved Workman |date=29 January 2001 |publisher=snopes.com |accessdate=2012-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224223953/http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/microwave.asp |archive-date=2022-02-24 |url-status=live}}

Political career

In a tweet on March 13, 2018, Boslough announced he was a candidate for the New Mexico House of Representatives, challenging the incumbent William Rehm.{{cite web|title=I have officially declared my candidacy ...|url=https://twitter.com/MarkBoslough/status/973739446691495936|website=Twitter|accessdate=16 March 2018|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20180316023358/https://twitter.com/MarkBoslough/status/973739446691495936|archivedate=16 March 2018|date=13 March 2018|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last1=Reichbach|first1=Matthew|title=2018 House: The primaries|url=http://nmpoliticalreport.com/813719/house-gop-leader-retirement-shock-on-legislative-filing-day/|website=NMpoliticalreport.com|publisher=NM Political Report|accessdate=16 March 2018|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20180316030242/http://nmpoliticalreport.com/813719/house-gop-leader-retirement-shock-on-legislative-filing-day/|archivedate=16 March 2018|date=13 March 2018|url-status=live}} Boslough lost the primary election to the incumbent william Rehm, 1,509 to 288 (84% to 16%).{{Cite web |date=June 26, 2018 |title=Official Results, 2018 Primary June 5, 2018 |url=https://electionresults.sos.state.nm.us/resultsSW.aspx?eid=112&type=CTYALL&cty=02&name=Bernalillo |accessdate=17 Nov 2021 |website=New Mexico Secretary of State}}

=Private property rights=

Boslough is an advocate of laws to reform the 19th-century law known as RS 2477 to prevent it from being used to take private property for public use.{{Cite web|title = ESR {{!}} February 23, 2004 {{!}} RS 2477 reform is needed to protect private property|url = http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0204/0204rs2477.htm|website = www.enterstageright.com|accessdate = 2015-07-13}} His fight turned into a prolonged battle with off-road clubs pulling out boulders and seedlings that Boslough used to try and restore his property.{{cite news|last = Cart|first = Julie|title = Rights (Page 2 of 2) Dust-Up Over Off-Roaders Roars Across Backcountry|url = http://articles.latimes.com/2003/sep/21/local/me-offroad21/2|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150714044327/http://articles.latimes.com/2003/sep/21/local/me-offroad21/2|url-status = dead|archive-date = July 14, 2015|newspaper = LA Times|accessdate = 12 February 2012}} He also received verbal and physical threats before he successfully defended a lawsuit (Ramey v. Boslough) in which the ownership of a four-wheel-drive road across his Colorado property was challenged by a plaintiff who was backed by off-road recreation interests.{{cite web|title = The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly|url = http://saveourcanyons.org/files/images/Autumn%2007%20NL.pdf|publisher = Citizens' Committee to Save Our Canyons|accessdate = 12 February 2012}} He used this experience to argue that the "right to radiate" is a prescriptive private property right, and that carbon polluters must compensate individuals for degrading their personal cooling capacity.{{cite web|last = Boslough|first = Mark|title = The Right to Radiate|url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-boslough/the-right-to-radiate_b_1709866.html|publisher = Huff Post|accessdate = 12 February 2012}}