Dava Sobel is an American writer who was born in the Bronx, New York, on June 15, 1947. Her books are generally written about the popular science genre and include these titles: Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time (about English clockmaker John Harrison who created the first chronometer); Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love; The Planets, and A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionised the Cosmos. Sobel graduated from The Bronx High School of Science and Binghamton University. She holds honorary doctor of letters degrees from the University of Bath, and Middlebury College, Vermont, both… awarded in 2002. The asteroid 30935 Davasobel is named after her. Sobel is also a former New York Times science reporter and has contributed articles to Audubon, Discover, Life and The New Yorker. She was a contributing editor to Harvard Magazine, writing about scientific research and the history of science.
William J. H. Andrewes is a museum consultant specializing in the history of scientific instruments and time measurement. He is the editor of The Quest for Longitude and lives in Concord, Massachusetts.