Thomas Van Flandern graduated from Xavier University in 1962, briefly attended Georgetown University in 1963, and received his PhD in astronomy from Yale in 1969, specializing in celestial mechanics.

Dr. Van Flandern's early work is well regarded within his field, however, he was more broadly (and controversially) known for his later scientific contributions.

Fascinated with astronomy from a very young age, Dr. Van Flandern made his first contribution to the field at age 19. In 1959, Tom and his friend Dennis Smith (age 17) set the world record for artificial satellites tracked during a month as part of project Moonwatch in Cincinnati. Tom made his observation from his personal telescope purchased with money earned from his paper route.

Dr. Van Flandern worked at the U.S. Naval Observatory for 21 years, and became Chief of the Celestial Mechanics Branch of the Nautical Almanac Office. His team contributed to the regular production of The Nautical Almanac Office, among other projects. After retiring from the civil service, Van Flandern served as a Research Associate at the University of Maryland Physics Department, and as a Global Positioning System (GPS) consultant to the Army Research Laboratory.

In his book "Dark Matter, Missing Planets and New Comets", Dr. Van Flandern presented the case for several controversial theories, most notably that the speed of gravity must propagate significantly faster than the speed of light; back-ground radiation is not caused by an expanding universe and therefore the big bang is invalid; Mars is a former moon of an exploded planet formerly located in the asteroid belt; and that some structures on Mars are artificial. Dr. Van Flandern co-published peer reviewed papers on the speed of gravity, but detractors frequently use his claims of artificiality on Mars to dismiss him.

Dr. Van Flandern founded Meta Research in 1991 in response to the broad problem of getting research support for promising but unpopular alternative ideas in astronomy. Meta Research publishes a quarterly journal and maintains a presence on the internet at www.metaresearch.org

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Van Flandern lived, worked, and retired in Washington DC with wife Barbara and their four children. He spent the last years of his retirement in the Olympic peninsula town of Sequim, Washington.

Resume of Astronomer Dr. Tom Van Flandern, director of Meta Research.
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Tom Van Flandern - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jan 3, 2009 ... Tom Charles Van Flandern (born Cleveland, Ohio, 1940) is a retired American astronomer who specialized in celestial mechanics. ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Van_Flandern - 19k

Press Conference about life on Mars
54 min
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Part 2 Mysterious Mars Lecture Dr Tom Van Flandern
22 min
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Tom Van Flandern Articles

Latest Published Paper: The Speed of Gravity--What the Experiments Say, by Tom Van Flandern, Physics Letters A, 250 (1998) 1-11. ... ldolphin.org/vanFlandern/ - 27k

Tom Van Flandern Chat Transcript

Planet X. The guest for this portion of the chat was Dr. Tom Van Flandern. He gives his latest views on Planet X and also on the 3600 year orbit. ... www.planet-x.150m.com/chat.html - 13k

Dr. Thomas Van Flandern Presents NASA Secrets Revealed DVD

Catch the details at Dr. Tom Van Flandern's colorful presentation. You will find it hard to believe the hard evidence you will see with your own eyes! ...

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