Bachelor of science from the University of Tennessee in 1955; Master of Arts from Syracuse University; two honorary doctorates; won his first Pulitzer in 1984 for his national reporting of science topics; 1987, he shared the prize with other New York Times reporters for their team effort in reporting on the Challenger explosion and its aftermath; one of fourty semi finalists in the "Journalist in Space Program" (cancelled following the Challenger tragedy); candidate from New York; in 1986 working for the New York Times; later visiting professor and lecturer at Princeton, Syracuse, Duke, Yale, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.