Editing Tom Van Flandern (section)

== Biography ==
[[File:Cincinnati Moonwatch Team sign.jpg|thumb|right|Van Flandern mentioned in historical marker about Project Moonwatch. Placed by Cincinnati Astronomical Society and the city of Cincinnati, OH]]

Tom Van Flandern was the first child of Robert F. Van Flandern, a police officer, and Anna Mary Haley. His father left the family when Tom was 5.<ref name="aas" /> His mother died when he was 16; he and his siblings then lived with their grandmother, Margery Jobe, until he went to college.<ref name="aas" /> He graduated from [[Saint Ignatius High School (Cleveland)|Saint Ignatius High School]] in [[Cleveland]]. While there, he helped start the Cleveland branch of [[Operation Moonwatch]], an amateur science program initiated by the [[Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory]] to track [[satellite]]s.<ref>''Cleveland Plain Dealer'' October 8, 1957 "Moonwatch Team Here Gets Set" page 5</ref><ref>''The Pharos-Tribune and Logansport Press'' August 9, 1959 "Still Keeping Watch" Logansport, IN page 19</ref> He also helped found a Moonwatchers team while studying at [[Xavier University]];<ref>''Xavier University News'' November 5, 1960 Mike Rogers "Satellite Spies Situate Tracking Station on Logan" page 1</ref> this team broke a tracking record in 1961.<ref>''Kingsport News'' May 17, 1961 "Reports Activity" page 10</ref><ref>''The Anderson Herald'' May 17, 1961 "Cincy Moonwatchers Report on Satellites" page 2</ref>

Van Flandern graduated from Xavier University with a [[Bachelor of Science|B.S.]] in [[mathematics]] (''[[cum laude]]'') in 1962 and was awarded a teaching fellowship at [[Georgetown University]].<ref>''Xavier University News'' May 4, 1962 "Tom Van Flandern Given Fellowship" page 9</ref><ref name="aas" /> He attended [[Yale University]] on a scholarship sponsored by the [[U.S. Naval Observatory]] (USNO),{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}}<!-- there is no mention of him in the yearly report: http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1962AJ.....67..608./0000670.000.html --> joining USNO in 1963.<ref>{{Cite journal| bibcode = 1963AJ.....68..649M | title = U.S. Naval Observatory Report | author = T. S. Baskett | journal = [[Astronomical Journal]] | date = 1963 | volume = 68 | issue = 9 | pages = 672, 674 |doi = 10.1086/109195 | s2cid = 119856085 }}</ref> In 1969, he received a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in [[astronomy]] from Yale after completing his [[Thesis|dissertation]] on [[occultation|lunar occultations]].

Van Flandern worked at the USNO until 1983<!-- baas85 says 1983-4; aps says 1983 -->,<ref name="baas85">{{Cite journal| title = U.S. Naval Observatory Report | author = Gart Westerhout | author2 = Charles K. Roberts | journal = [[Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society]] | volume = 17 | page = 457 | bibcode = 1985BAAS...17..457. | date = 1984 }}</ref><ref name="aps">{{Cite journal| url = http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/199604/funding.cfm | title = "Meta" Researcher Champions New Funding Sources for Independent Science | date = April 1996 | volume = 5 | issue = 4 | journal = [[APS News]] }}</ref> first becoming Chief of the Research Branch<ref>USNO Staff Directory for Nautical Almanac Office, December 1976</ref> and later becoming Chief of the Celestial Mechanics Branch of the Nautical Almanac Office.<ref>{{Cite journal| author = Colin Keay | title = Another Revolution in Physics. Maybe? | journal = [[Australian & New Zealand Physicist]] | volume = 30 | issue = 9 | date = September 1993 | page = 230 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| journal = [[Nature (journal)|Nature]] | volume = 278 | issue = 5707 | page = 821 | date = 1979 | title = Gravitation and the expansion of the Earth |author=van Flandern T. C. | doi = 10.1038/278821a0 |bibcode = 1979Natur.278..821V | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>USNO Staff Directory for Nautical Almanac Office, November 1977</ref> His espousal of highly non-mainstream beliefs, particularly the exploded planet hypothesis, eventually led to his separation from the USNO. He later said, "This forced me to the 'fringes,' areas of astronomy not accepted as credible by experts of the field".<ref>Gonzo Science, Jim Richardson, Alan Richardson, p. 62, 2004.</ref>

Following his separation from the USNO, Van Flandern started a business organizing [[eclipse]]-viewing expeditions and promoting his non-mainstream views in a newsletter and website. Shortly after he died in 2009, the [[asteroid]] [[52266&nbsp;Van Flandern]] was named in his honor because of his prediction and analysis of lunar occultations at the U.S. Naval Observatory and publications of papers on the dynamics of [[minor-planet moon|binary minor planets]].<ref name="MPC-Van Flandern" />

He married Barbara Ann Weber (1942-2018) in 1963 in Kentucky, and they had three sons, Michael, Brian, and Kevin, and a daughter, Connie. The couple moved to Sequim, Washington, from the East Coast in 2005 to be closer to their children and grandchildren.<ref name="aas" /><ref>Barbara Ann (Weber) Flandern, Peninsula Daily News, Legacy.Com</ref>

Tom Van Flandern died of [[colon cancer]] in [[Seattle, Washington]].<ref name="sequimobit">{{Cite web| url =http://www.sequimgazette.com/obituaries/article.exm/2009-01-21_obituaries |title = Obituary | publisher = [[Sequim Gazette]] | date = January 21, 2009 }}</ref>