| Amy Shira Teitel | |||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | March 7, 1986 (age 38) | ||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | ||||||||||||
| Education: | BA History of Science and Technology and Classics, University of King's College, Nova Scotia MA Science and Technology Studies, York University, Ontario | ||||||||||||
| Occupation: | Popular science writer, journalist | ||||||||||||
| Module: |
| ||||||||||||
Amy Shira Teitel is a Canadian[1] [2] author, popular science writer, historian,[3] and YouTuber.
Amy Shira Teitel is a native of Toronto.[4] She has written for The Daily Beast, National Geographic, Discovery News, Scientific American, Ars Technica, and Al Jazeera English.[5] [6]
Teitel's first book was based on research for her master's degree thesis. Breaking the Chains of Gravity (2015) tells the story of America's nascent space program.[7] [8] The book describes the early pioneers of rockets in the late 1920s, up to the formation of NASA.[9]
Teitel's Fighting for Space (2020) is a dual biography of female pilots Jacqueline Cochran and Jerrie Cobb.[10] [11]
In 2012, Teitel created the YouTube channel, The Vintage Space,[12] in which she delves into the early history of space flight.
Teitel was a co-host for the Discovery Channel's online DNews channel, which later became Seeker.[13] She has also appeared on Ancient Aliens, NASA's Unexplained Files, and other cable documentary shows.[14]
In 2013, Amy Shira Teitel faced accusations of plagiarism involving several articles she wrote for Ars Technica. It was reported that she extensively copied from a 2010 article by Dwayne Day and Robert Kennedy in her piece on the Polyus-Skif weapons system. Ars Technica removed the article after the plagiarism was brought to their attention. Further investigations revealed that Teitel had also plagiarized works by Andy Chaikin and content from a NASA book. This pattern involved using the work of other space historians without permission or attribution and selling these articles to commercial websites.[15]