Joel L. Schiff

Joel L Schiff was born in Chicago, Illinois, and has a PhD in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles. He spent his career at the University of Auckland and has written three books on various mathematical subjects (published by Springer-Verlag and John Wiley & Sons). In 1999, he and his wife discovered a new asteroid from their backyard observatory, which they named after New Zealand meteorite scientist, Dr Brian Mason. This coincided with the author's interest in meteorites as he was the founder/ publisher of the international journal Meteorite, which carried on for 20 years. Having a life-long interest in art, he has also had two books published about the outstanding artists, Grace Joel and Marie Bashkirtseff. His latest book is about the exotic nature of orchids which he has been growing and killing for more than 30 years. But astronomy has always remained a passion since receiving a small telescope as a young boy, and he now turns his sights again to the heavens. Indeed, on any clear night, two neighboring galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are easily visible from the author's vantage point in Auckland, New Zealand.

Source: The Most Interesting Galaxies in the Universe, 2018, page xv.