Red Dwarfs (PDF)

David Stevenson was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 1968. He studied Molecular Biology at Glasgow University and obtained a PhD in Genetics from the University of Cambridge. He then studied Astronomy and Planetary Sciences and Geophysics and Geochemistry (S267) at the OU.

After a stint in academia, Stevenson became a teacher, but continued to write science articles for various publications. In July 2007 an article on Type Ia Supernovae, "A Bigger Bang," was published in Sky & Telescope, with a second article on supernovae published in the same magazine in October 2011. Three books have followed on supernovae, red dwarf stars and star clusters (Extreme Explosions, Under a Crimson Sun and The Complex Life of Star Clusters, respectively). A further article on stellar mergers is at the production stages with Astronomy magazine, while a spin-off article from Extreme Explosions, "Supersized Stellar Mystery," was published in Popular Astronomyin February 2014.


Despite a background in Biology, the author's father inspired his interest in Astronomy from an early age. Many parallels can be drawn between the lives of people and those of stars -- a thought that is explored in his most recent Springer book, The Nature of Life and Its Potential to Survive. Exploring the cross-roads of different scientific disciplines is a key interest and motivation in both Stevenson's teaching and writing.