Scott Manley | ||||||||||
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Personal information | ||||||||||
Born | Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland | 31 December 1972|||||||||
Nationality | British, American | |||||||||
Education | University of Glasgow | |||||||||
Occupation | Software developer at Apple Inc. | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channel | ||||||||||
Years active | 2009–present | |||||||||
Subscribers | 1.66 million [1] | |||||||||
Total views | 598 million [1] | |||||||||
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Last updated: 14 March 2024 |
Scott Park Manley [2] (born 31 December 1972) is a Scottish science communication YouTuber, gamer, astrophysicist, and programmer. On his YouTube channel, he makes videos discussing space-related topics and news, mainly concerning up-to-date rocket science developments. [3] He also plays space-themed video games, most notably Kerbal Space Program , [4] while using his physics background to teach science concepts. [5] [6]
He is known among his followers as the "astronogamer", as he is one of the few YouTubers blending both video games and science, [7] and is popular in the niche community of space enthusiasts and gamers, especially among Kerbal Space Program players. [8]
Manley grew up in Barassie, a suburb of Troon, South Ayrshire. While studying at the University of Glasgow, Manley received a Bachelor of Science (1990–1994) in physics and astronomy, focusing on asteroid belt populations, and a Master of Science (1994–1995) in computational physics. In 2002, he worked as an engineer for Napster. From 2002 to 2004, he worked as a research engineer for Qualys. From 2004 to 2009, he worked as a security architect in imeem, where he developed and maintained an audio and video uploading, transcoding, and fingerprinting system, among other things. After Manley joined Topsy Labs in 2009, it was later acquired in 2013 by Apple Inc. where Manley is currently a software developer.
Manley's first few uploads on his YouTube channel, "szyzyg", [9] were assorted home movies that were primarily of his daughter, Skye, some of which involved her playing the game EVE Online .
A video titled "Asteroid Discovery From 1980 - 2010" was one of Manley's early YouTube successes. The video is a computer animation showing a time-lapse of the Solar System from 1980-2010. When the time-lapse reaches the day an asteroid is discovered, it appears on the map as a bright green dot and continues orbiting the Sun. The video amassed over 459,000 views in the five days following its upload. [10] By September 3, 2010, the szyzyg channel had 213 subscribers, earning Manley the accolade "#66 - Most Viewed (This Week)". [9]
Some time before November 23, 2011, he changed the name of his YouTube channel to "Scott Manley". [11] Scott's later successes came from gaming content, specifically videos about Kerbal Space Program , a spaceflight simulator with accurate Newtonian physics. Kerbal Space Program is a sandbox game featuring players constructing rockets out of prefabricated parts, attempting to launch them into orbit and explore the solar system of Kerbin. The game has a very steep learning curve due to the accurate Newtonian physics engine. Scott used his scientific background to make tutorial videos on basic gameplay, such as how to reach Kerbin orbit. [12] Later, Manley would go on to play other games such as Elite Dangerous , EVE Online , Surviving Mars and Kerbal Space Program 2 , approaching them from his unique professional science perspective.
Around 2018, Manley slowly transitioned away from gaming content, and began focusing heavily on the history of spaceflight and current events in the industry. As of 2022, these subjects are his current main focus, alongside regular Q&A videos submitted by his patrons on Patreon. Manley still streams games weekly on Twitch under the name "Szyzyg". [13]
From 2022 to 2023, Manley uploaded an irregular series of vlogs documenting his progress in obtaining a private pilot license, becoming certified in April 2023. [14] [15] [16] [17]
Author Anne McCaffrey consulted with Manley on the effects of asteroid impacts while writing The Skies of Pern . [18] Manley determined the orbit of a fictional rogue comet and provided advice on how the event should be portrayed. [19] Manley was one of the original participants of Asteroid Day, was a keynote speaker at the launch in 2015, [20] and hosted their regular "Asteroid Update" segments. [21] He is credited as a consultant on the Netflix movie Stowaway (directed by Joe Penna). In Penna's appearance on Corridor Cast, he said Manley would go beyond the immediate needs of the script and that he 'did the math so it would be ready'. [22]
In recognition for his work as a popular science communicator, asteroid 33434 Scottmanley was named after him. [23] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 18 May 2019 ( M.P.C. 114954). [24] The outer main-belt asteroid was discovered by astronomers with the OCA–DLR Asteroid Survey in 1999. It is a member of the stony Koronis family and measures approximately 4.6 kilometers in diameter. [25]
Dragonriders of Pern is a science fantasy series written primarily by American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey, who initiated it in 1967. Beginning in 2003, her middle child Todd McCaffrey has written Pern novels, both solo and jointly with Anne. The series comprises 24 novels and two collections of short stories. The two novellas included in the first novel, Dragonflight, made McCaffrey the first woman to win a Hugo Award for writing fiction as well as the first to win a Nebula Award.
Russell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart is an American aeronautical engineer, and a former NASA astronaut, research scientist, U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, as well as a former business executive and government executive.
The B612 Foundation is a private nonprofit foundation headquartered in Mill Valley, California, United States, dedicated to planetary science and planetary defense against asteroids and other near-Earth object (NEO) impacts. It is led mainly by scientists, former astronauts and engineers from the Institute for Advanced Study, Southwest Research Institute, Stanford University, NASA and the space industry.
Edward Tsang "Ed" Lu is an American physicist and former NASA astronaut. He flew on two Space Shuttle flights, and made an extended stay aboard the International Space Station.
99942 Apophis (provisional designation 2004 MN4) is a near-Earth asteroid and a potentially hazardous object with a diameter of 370 metres (1,210 feet) that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 when initial observations indicated a probability up to 2.7% that it would hit Earth on April 13, 2029. Additional observations provided improved predictions that eliminated the possibility of an impact on Earth in 2029. Until 2006, a small possibility nevertheless remained that, during its 2029 close encounter with Earth, Apophis would pass through a gravitational keyhole of no more than about 800 kilometres (500 mi) in diameter, which would have set up a future impact exactly seven years later on April 13, 2036. This possibility kept it at Level 1 on the Torino impact hazard scale until August 2006, when the probability that Apophis would pass through the keyhole was determined to be very small and Apophis's rating on the Torino scale was lowered to zero. By 2008, the keyhole had been determined to be less than 1 km wide. During the short time when it had been of greatest concern, Apophis set the record for highest rating ever on the Torino scale, reaching level 4 on December 27, 2004.
Todd J. McCaffrey is an American science fiction writer known for continuing the Dragonriders of Pern series in collaboration with his mother Anne McCaffrey.
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The Skies of Pern is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It was the sixteenth book published in the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne or her son Todd McCaffrey.
Robin Wood was an American artist specializing in game art and fantasy. She is best known for her portraits of characters from Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, the Robin Wood Tarot Deck and the cover art for several of Scott Cunningham's books on neo-Paganism.
A space flight simulation is a genre of flight simulator video games that lets players experience space flight to varying degrees of realism. Common mechanics include space exploration, space trade and space combat.
Jônatas de Moura Penna, best known as Joe Penna, is a Brazilian filmmaker and musician, best known from both his YouTube channel MysteryGuitarMan and his feature films. He resides in Los Angeles, California.
Kerbal Space Program (KSP) is a space flight simulation video game developed by Mexican studio Squad for Linux, macOS, Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. In the game, players direct a space program, staffed and crewed by green humanoid aliens known as "Kerbals". The game features a pseudorealistic orbital physics engine, allowing for various real-life orbital maneuvers such as Hohmann transfer orbits and orbital rendezvous.
An O'Neill cylinder is a space settlement concept proposed by American physicist Gerard K. O'Neill in his 1976 book The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space. O'Neill proposed the colonization of space for the 21st century, using materials extracted from the Moon and later from asteroids.
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Matthew Robert Patrick, better known as MatPat, is an American semi-retired YouTuber and internet personality. He is the creator and former host of the YouTube series Game Theory, and its spin-off series Film Theory, Food Theory, and Style Theory, each analyzing various video games, films alongside TV series and web series, food, and fashion respectively. Each of the different series are posted on individual channels, each named after the respective series. In addition to the creation of his channels, Patrick narrates the majority of the videos that are presented on his channels.
Kerbal Space Program 2 is a space flight simulation video game developed by Intercept Games and published by Private Division as an early access version on Windows in early 2023. It is the sequel to 2015's Kerbal Space Program and was released on early access on February 24, 2023, for Windows.