The University of Arizona Press
July 8, 2020
Since March, we have featured a free e-Book almost every week. For this week’s Free e-Book of the Week, we’re pleased to offer Melissa Sevigny’s Under Desert Skies: How Tucson Mapped the Way to the Moon and Planets for free download.
Under Desert Skies describes how a small lunar- and planetary-focused laboratory at the University of Arizona forged the field of planetary science at a time when few people studied the solar system. Spanning six decades, the book records the stories of the scientists who, with telescopes and spacecraft, transformed single points of lights into worlds that we can see, touch, study, and compare to Earth.
Melissa L. Sevigny grew up in Tucson, Arizona, with a deep love of the geology, ecology, and the clear desert skies of the Southwest. She is a science and technology reporter for KNAU (Arizona Public Radio) in Flagstaff. Minor Planet (15624) Lamberton is named in her honor.
Download Under Desert Skies here using code AZSKY20. Available until 7/16/2020.
“Beyond their awe-inspiring accomplishments, these UA faculty epitomize the ‘inexhaustible sense of wonder’ that Sevigny considers the heart of planetary science.”—The Journal of Arizona History
“Tells the story of how a small corner of Arizona became Earth’s ambassador to space.”—Lunar and Planetary Information Bulletin
“Under Desert Skies presents an institutional history of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) at the University of Arizona in Tucson: a key center for planetary sciences today and throughout its sixty-year history.” —Isis Review
