Starship Asterisk*

In support of the public outreach mission of NASA, the idea of presenting a single, different image of astronomical interest via the web was first conceived by John Kressel and suggested to Jerry Bonnell when they worked together at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apod

I was checking the Wikipedia entry for APOD recently and noticed the above phrase which is absolutely false. APOD was conceived in conversations only between Jerry Bonnell and myself. I have no idea who John Kressel is, and he certainly did not conceive APOD. I have not yet edited any Wikipedia entry, and I am not sure it is fair that I edit the entry for APOD. I would be quite grateful, however, if someone would delete this incorrect statement.

- RJN

RJN wrote:

In support of the public outreach mission of NASA, the idea of presenting a single, different image of astronomical interest via the web was first conceived by John Kressel and suggested to Jerry Bonnell when they worked together at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apod

I was checking the Wikipedia entry for APOD recently and noticed the above phrase which is absolutely false. APOD was conceived in conversations only between Jerry Bonnell and myself. I have no idea who John Kressel is, and he certianly did not conceive APOD. I have not yet edited any Wikipedia entry, and I am not sure it is fair that I edit the entry for APOD. I would be quite grateful, however, if someone would delete this incorrect statement.

I removed the sentence. It was only added on Dec 25, by a user that has only a few other Wikipedia contributions, all to astronomical topics. If the added text was intended as some sort of vandalism, it may reappear. Keep an eye on the article for a while.

John Kressel is claiming credit for APOD, according to this site, and he has commented on the NASA APOD Facebook site that he is responsible for APOD. See here for more information.

Thanks, Chris and Owlice. I see the change to Wikipedia's APOD entry has now been made, I have now made a clarifying comment myself on the Facebook page that Owlice linked to above. I apologize if I sound egotistical here but it was difficult to let an inaccurate attribution like that stand.

- RJN

You don't sound egotistical at all. I'll be honest: I'm completely irritated by this! Given what he cites as his "other company," I suspect he is the one who edited the Wikipedia page.

RJN, you should put a note at Kressel on the discussion page. It's not egotistical when it's just facts and you are one of the few possible experts on the subject matter. I guess you are figuring maybe there is some conflict of interest there but I just don't see it being an issue especially if you are this cautious and critical of yourself.