Philip Cary Plait (a.k.a. The Bad Astronomer) is an American astronomer and skeptic who runs the website BadAstronomy.com. He formerly worked at the physics and astronomy department at Sonoma State University. In early 2007, he resigned from his job to write [amazon_link id=”0670019976″ target=”_blank” ]Death from the Skies[/amazon_link]. On August 4, 2008, he became President of the James Randi Educational Foundation. He served in that position until January 1, 2010, when he was succeeded by noted skeptic D. J. Grothe.