Canadian amateur astronomer and accomplished astrophotographer who lived near Yarker, Ontario, Canada Terence Dickinson CM died on February 1, 2023, at the age of 79. The cause of his death is yet to be revealed.
He was born on November 10, 1943, in Toronto, Ontario.
After seeing a bright meteor at age five from just outside his family’s home, he became interested in astronomy.
When he turned 14, Dickinson received a 60 mm telescope as a Christmas present, the first of nearly 20 telescopes he has owned.
Growing up in 1976, he became a full-time science writer. He received the 1998 Industry Canada’s Michael Smith Award for Public Promotion of Science, the 1993 Canadian Science Writers’ Association Award First Place for Science and Technology writing, and the Royal Canadian Institute’s Sandford Fleming Medal in 1992.
Dickinson was the founder and former editor of SkyNews magazine. Dickinson had been an astronomy commentator for Discovery Channel Canada and taught at St. Lawrence College.
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific awarded him the Klumpke-Roberts Award in 1996. He received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Queen’s University in 2019.