Jörg Matthias Determann

Thank you very much and آپ کا بہت بہت شکریہ for uploading a recording of my presentation to YouTube, Scientia! I am immensely grateful to @fouzsiddiqui.bsky.social for inviting me and to Saadeqa Khan for her support. It was a special honor to give this webinar. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fthk...

All thanks and appreciation to Stefanie Dunning for accepting a proposal of mine for the SFRA conference at @urochester.bsky.social! I am honored to speak about “Isaac Asimov and the Teaching of Science with Science Fiction” at Panel 15 on July 31.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ sfra.org/conferences/...

Míle buíochas and a thousand thanks to Seán O’Quoi for interviewing me for Things Visible and Invisible (TVI). Our episode is entitled “Do MUSLIMS believe in AlLIENS? UFOs?” It premiered on YouTube on July 18, 2025. Joanne Suyat had reached out to me back in May. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl4B...

I am very grateful and میں بہت مشکور ہوں۔ to @fouzsiddiqui.bsky.social for inviting me back as a speaker to the Science Writing Internship webinar series of Scientia Pakistan. On July 20, 2025, at 4pm Pakistan time, I will be honored to address the interns of cohort four meet.google.com/unb-mkgc-gof

Thank you very much for your question, @jasleen1kaur.bsky.social! For me, the history of astronomy is in part the history of overcoming barriers and of achieving greater access to the universe. This includes barriers such as national borders and discrimination based on gender, race and disability.

Thank you and 감사합니다 to Sooyeun Yang for sending me photos from the panel I chaired at the Meeting of ‪ @bshsnews.bsky.social at @cam.ac.uk. Po-Hung Liu, @jeffreykotyk.bsky.social, @busradede.bsky.social and Majideh Qazizadeh gave spectacular presentations. conference.bshs.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Thank you very much and mulțumesc foarte mult to @cstanciu2025.bsky.social for inviting me to give a virtual talk in the Meet VCU Authors series! On September 22, 2025, I will speak on Zoom about “One Planet, One Sky: Internationalism in Modern Astronomy.” humanitiescenter.vcu.edu/events/meet-...

A world of gratitude (یک دنیا سپاس) to Parviz Tarikhi for reviewing my @springer.springernature.com book Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Astronomy alongside Tomáš W. Pavlíček, Petra Hyklová and Martin Šolc’s volume Astronomers behind the Iron Curtain! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

I would like to add to my expression of gratitude to @samhistsci.bsky.social by thanking him for allowing me to chair a panel at the conference of @bshsnews.bsky.social with Po-Hung Liu, @jeffreykotyk.bsky.social, @busradede.bsky.social and Majideh Qazizadeh. conference.bshs.org.uk/wp-content/u...

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to @samhistsci.bsky.social and Jim Secord for accepting a paper of mine for inclusion in the 2025 Annual Meeting of @bshsnews.bsky.social at @cam.ac.uk: “Isaac Asimov and Science Education in Twentieth-Century America.” conference.bshs.org.uk/programme/%E...

Being responsible for editing book reviews at our Journal of Arabian Studies, I extend my sincere gratitude to those who wrote for our newest issue (14.2): @alsarihi.bsky.social, Dawn Chatty, @mchrislow.bsky.social, Joe Kéchichian, Nadya Hapsari and Sheam Khan www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjab20/1...

Thank you very much, Chris! I greatly appreciate it.

You have my sincere thanks and لك خالص الشكر, Ahmed Shaker Alalaq, for appointing me to the Editorial Board of the Kufa Journal of Arts (مجلة آداب الكوفة)! I am very honored to serve alongside Ahmed, our managing editor Safaa Almudhafar and and our staff. journal.uokufa.edu.iq/index.php/ku...

Thank you, عيشك, merci, dank u, danke and gracias to everyone who made the ENIS Spring School ’25 at the Université de Tunis a success. I have to mention @joaswagemakers.bsky.social‬, Sara Muller, Hiba Mednini and Julius Dihstelhoff and Mònica Colominas Aparicio. www.academia.edu/129618454/Im...

It is with the deepest gratitude to my fellow members of @iau-wgsn.bsky.social that I am sharing an update on our work. In April and May 2025, we adopted the following stars names: Alfarasalkamil, Honores, Kaffalmusalsala, Paradys, Rasalnaqa and Udkadua. xing.fmi.uni-jena.de/mediawiki/in...

Ein sehr großes Dankeschön (a very big thank you) to Michael Bohlander of @durham-university.bsky.social for inviting me to be one of the supporting contributors to Written Evidence submitted to @lordsukspacecom.parliament.uk. committees.parliament.uk/writtenevide...

Estoy muy agradecido (I am very grateful) to @pascalin.unam.social.ap.brid.gy for interviewing me for the ISHPSSB Newsletter. I am also deeply thankful to @vbs55.bsky.social ‬for inviting me to make this contribution. www.ishpssb.org/news/newslet...

Thank you in advance, alvast bedankt and شكراً مقدماً to the organizers of the ENIS Spring School ’25 for hosting me at the Université de Tunis from May 27 to 30, 2025. I say dank u to @joaswagemakers.bsky.social and Sara Muller and عيشك to Hiba Mednini in particular. www.unil.ch/news/en/1741...

S5E2: Dr. Jörg Matthias Determann ~ Author of Islam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life - WTUFO Dr. Determann is the author of Islam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life: The Culture of Astrobiology in the Muslim World and a professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar...

You can listen on Buzzsprout here:
wtufo.buzzsprout.com/2368827/epis...

I sincerely appreciate Caleb Mayo’s invitation to appear on @wtufo.bsky.social ‬. Our episode, S5E2, was released on YouTube, Buzzsprout and X on May 23, 2025. It includes music by John Hubbell. I thank Michael Bohlander for recommending me to Caleb. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYNs...

I am very grateful and خیلی سپاسگزارم to Mahjoob Zweiri for allowing me to write a review of Donald Baker’s book Making Qatar University. My article appeared in the Journal of Gulf Studies 1, no. 2 (2024), 193–95. @intellectbooks.bsky.social published it online in 2025. doi.org/10.1386/jgs_...

Journal of Gulf Studies 1.2 is out now!

Including ‘Argentina–Qatar: From unlikely partners to a developing partnership’ (2011–23) by Ornela Fabani.
@QUGulfStudies

Access the issue via discover 👉 intellectdiscover.co...

My heartfelt gratitude to Peter Gould for giving an inspiring speech at the 2025 commencement ceremony of Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar! I had the immense honor of hosting and escorting Peter. His trip included a visit to our show Art and Design Now at M7. qatar.vcu.edu/news/vcuarts...

Alf shukr and thank you a thousand times to Eman Alsoudi for inviting me to serve as an on-screen contributor to a documentary about Ameen Rihani as part of the series مذكرات (Memoirs) on @alaraby.com. It was aired on May 13, 2025, www.alarabyplus.net/ar/node/23867

I have been thanking Natana DeLong-Bas for over a decade. This time, I ask her to accept my gratitude for a thoughtful review she composed of Shoaib Ahmed Malik’s and my edited volume Islamic Theology and Extraterrestrial Life (@ibtauris.bsky.social). doi.org/10.1080/0959...

Thank you very much and terima kasih banyak to Lolyta Poniman and her colleagues in our Department of Human Resources at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar for including me in a section of their newsletter called “Featured Employee” (HRConnect 24, May 2025)! www.academia.edu/129343809/J%...

Thank you, Спасибо and дякую to Olga Protopopova for allowing my daughter Maria to participate in a celebration of International Jazz Day at the International Centre for Music (ICM) in Qatar! Olga and Maria played “Lullaby” by George Shearing on May 2, 2025. www.facebook.com/ICMQATAR/vid...

In my role as Book Review Editor of the Journal of Arabian Studies (@tandfresearch.bsky.social), I must give thanks to the contributors to our latest issue. Volume 14, number 1, is formally dated June 2024, but was published online on May 7, 2025. www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjab20/1...

Alf mabrūk (a thousand congratulations) to Maryam Al-Tajer on successfully defending her MFA thesis at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar! Her project is entitled “Vessels of Spirituality: Merging Faith and Form.” scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/8002/

As Associate Editor of the Review of Middle East Studies, I have to say a big thank you to the contributors to our most recent issue (vol. 57, no. 2). I am particularly indebted to Zarqa Parvez and Wolfgang G. Schwanitz. Additionally, I thank Heather Ferguson. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...