David Kestenbaum
David Kestenbaum is a correspondent for NPR, covering science, energy issues and, most recently, the global economy for NPR's multimedia project Planet Money. David has been a science correspondent for NPR since 1999. He came to journalism the usual way — by getting a Ph.D. in physics first.
In his years at NPR, David has covered science's discoveries and its darker side, including the Northeast blackout, the anthrax attacks and the collapse of the New Orleans levees. He has also reported on energy issues, particularly nuclear and climate change.
David has won awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
David worked briefly on the show This American Life, and set up a radio journalism program in Cambodia on a Fulbright fellowship. He also teaches a journalism class at Johns Hopkins University.
David holds a bachelor's of science degree in physics from Yale University and a doctorate in physics from Harvard University.
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In nine days, NASA will launch the space shuttle Discovery on a mission to the International Space Station, despite the safety concerns of two senior officials. They spoke with reporters Wednesday to explain their reservations about the mission. Both were worried about a repeat of the Columbia Shuttle accident.
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A new NASA mission to the moon will pelt the lunar surface to study plumes of dust and search for ice crystals. The unmanned mission, slated for October 2008, will launch a lunar orbiter from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., using the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle.
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After Katrina, sections of wall holding back water in New Orleans canals failed when they should have held. In a letter released Friday, an independent panel says engineers who designed the canal walls should have included a larger safety margin.
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A government panel issues preliminary findings about why New Orleans' levees failed after Hurricane Katrina. The 800-page report concludes that the disaster wasn't due to faulty work by the Corps or anyone else. That's at odds with conclusions reached by two other independent teams.
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The Department of Energy has been quietly working on a grand plan for nuclear power to be included in next year's budget. Ideas for the Global Nuclear Energy Initiative include reprocessing nuclear fuel so it can be re-used in reactors -- a process the United States abandoned earlier.
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Engineers testify before the Senate that downtown New Orleans should not have flooded during Hurricane Katrina. The flooding occurred because walls along canals had faulty foundations and collapsed. The investigators said it's unclear whether the walls were poorly designed or shoddily constructed.
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Scientists studying anthrax say they are making progress understanding the bacteria and developing new vaccines. But the field is much larger than it once was, and some wonder if that's wise or necessary.
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Two Americans and a German share the prize for work that used light to make some of the most precise measurements ever performed. Engineers have used the observations of Roy Glauber, John Hall and Theodor Haensch to improve lasers, Global Positioning System technology and other instruments.
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German Theodor Haensch and Americans John Hall and Roy Glauber win the Nobel Prize in Physics for their research on the physics of light. Their work with lasers has helped redefine how distance is measured and allowed physicists to measure the atom's internal structure with new precision.
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Researchers are suggesting that flawed construction -- not storm surges -- likely caused key floodwalls around New Orleans to fail. They say the waters of Lake Pontchartrain never got high enough to rise above the walls and erode their foundations, the early explanation for the levee collapses.