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Scott Manley

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Scott Manley
Scott Manley in 2022
Personal information
Born (1972-12-31) 31 December 1972 (age 51)
Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland
NationalityBritish, American
EducationUniversity of Glasgow
OccupationSoftware developer at Apple Inc.
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2009–present
Subscribers1.66 million[1]
Total views598 million[1]
100,000 subscribers
1,000,000 subscribers
Last updated: 14 March 2024

Scott Park Manley[2] (born 31 December 1972) is a Scottish science communication YouTuber, gamer, astrophysicist, and programmer. On his YouTube channel, he makes videos discussing space-related topics and news, mainly concerning up-to-date rocket science developments.[3] He also plays space-themed video games, most notably Kerbal Space Program,[4] while using his physics background to teach science concepts.[5][6]

He is known among his followers as the "astronogamer", as he is one of the few YouTubers blending both video games and science,[7] and is popular in the niche community of space enthusiasts and gamers, especially among Kerbal Space Program players.[8]

Education and professional career

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Manley grew up in Barassie, a suburb of Troon, South Ayrshire. While studying at the University of Glasgow, Manley received a Bachelor of Science (1990–1994) in physics and astronomy, focusing on asteroid belt populations, and a Master of Science (1994–1995) in computational physics. For five years he lived in Ireland.[9] In 2002, he worked as an engineer for Napster. From 2002 to 2004, he worked as a research engineer for Qualys. From 2004 to 2009, he worked as a security architect in imeem, where he developed and maintained an audio and video uploading, transcoding, and fingerprinting system, among other things. After Manley joined Topsy Labs in 2009, it was later acquired in 2013 by Apple Inc. where Manley is currently a software developer.[10]

YouTube career

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Manley's first few uploads on his YouTube channel, "szyzyg",[11] were assorted home movies that were primarily of his daughter, Skye, some of which involved her playing the game EVE Online.

A video titled "Asteroid Discovery From 1980 - 2010" was one of Manley's early YouTube successes. The video is a computer animation showing a time-lapse of the Solar System from 1980-2010. When the time-lapse reaches the day an asteroid is discovered, it appears on the map as a bright green dot and continues orbiting the Sun. The video amassed over 459,000 views in the five days following its upload.[12] By September 3, 2010, the szyzyg channel had 213 subscribers, earning Manley the accolade "#66 - Most Viewed (This Week)".[11]

Some time before November 23, 2011, he changed the name of his YouTube channel to "Scott Manley".[13] Manley's later successes came from gaming content, specifically videos about Kerbal Space Program, a spaceflight simulator with accurate Newtonian physics. Kerbal Space Program is a sandbox game featuring players constructing rockets out of prefabricated parts, attempting to launch them into orbit and explore the solar system of Kerbin. The game has a very steep learning curve due to the accurate Newtonian physics engine. Manley used his scientific background to make tutorial videos on basic gameplay, such as how to reach Kerbin orbit.[14] Later, Manley would go on to play other games such as Elite Dangerous, EVE Online, Surviving Mars and Kerbal Space Program 2, approaching them from his unique professional science perspective.

Around 2018, Manley slowly transitioned away from gaming content, and began focusing heavily on the history of spaceflight and current events in the industry. As of 2022, these subjects are his current main focus, alongside regular Q&A videos submitted by his patrons on Patreon. Manley still streams games weekly on Twitch under the name "Szyzyg".[15]

From 2022 to 2023, Manley uploaded an irregular series of vlogs documenting his progress in obtaining a private pilot license, becoming certified in April 2023. He's currently working towards an Instrument Rating and also owns an Aerospool WT9 Dynamic light sport aircraft which appears in a number of videos.[16][17][18][19][20]

Author Anne McCaffrey consulted with Manley on the effects of asteroid impacts while writing The Skies of Pern.[21] Manley determined the orbit of a fictional rogue comet and provided advice on how the event should be portrayed.[22] Manley was one of the original participants of Asteroid Day, was a keynote speaker at the launch in 2015,[23] and hosted their regular "Asteroid Update" segments.[24] He is credited as a consultant on the Netflix movie Stowaway (directed by Joe Penna). In Penna's appearance on Corridor Cast, he said Manley would go beyond the immediate needs of the script and that he 'did the math so it would be ready'.[25]

Manley occasionally performs as a DJ and performed on stage at the Astro Awards in Austin, Texas. His Twitter handle 'DJSnM' is a reference to a name he performed under in the past. [26]

Recognition

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In recognition for his work as a popular science communicator, asteroid 33434 Scottmanley was named after him.[27] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 18 May 2019 (M.P.C. 114954).[28] The outer main-belt asteroid was discovered by astronomers with the OCA–DLR Asteroid Survey in 1999. It is a member of the stony Koronis family and measures approximately 4.6 kilometers in diameter.[29]

References

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  1. ^ a b "About Scott Manley". YouTube.
  2. ^ Flying in a Zero Gravity Aircraft - Why The Pilots 'Follow the Duck' on YouTube
  3. ^ "Scott Manley". B612. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  4. ^ Martindale, Jon (22 January 2014). "Meet the Man(ley) that taught the world how to Kerbalise space". KitGuru. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  5. ^ Howell, Elizabeth (26 August 2016). "'Astronogamer': When Space Science Meets Gaming". Seeker. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  6. ^ Dillon, Conor (24 October 2018). "China's artificial moon — The numbers 'just don't add up'". DW.COM. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  7. ^ Mejia, Ozzie (1 February 2016). "Shacknews Close-Up: Scott Manley, the Astronogamer". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  8. ^ Boone, Jeb (1 August 2013). "A far cry from Call of Duty, Kerbal Space Program is inspiring players to learn physics (VIDEO)". Public Radio International. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  9. ^ Event occurs at 2 minutes 15 seconds. "Europe Debuts New Ariane 6 Rocket Successfully... Mostly. What Went Wrong?". YouTube. 11 July 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  10. ^ "Scott Manley". LinkedIn. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  11. ^ a b "YouTube - szyzyg's Channel". YouTube. 3 September 2010. Archived from the original on 3 September 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  12. ^ Asteroid Discovery From 1980 - 2010. YouTube. 31 August 2010. Archived from the original on 31 August 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  13. ^ "szyzyg's Channel - YouTube". YouTube. 23 November 2011. Archived from the original on 23 November 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  14. ^ Easy Guide to Orbiting a Rocket In Kerbal Space Program. YouTube. 5 September 2011. Archived from the original on 5 September 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  15. ^ "Szyzyg on Twitch". Twitch. 25 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  16. ^ https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MZdDW018M7E
  17. ^ How I'm Learning to "Fly Safe". YouTube. 26 March 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  18. ^ I Passed A 21st Century Aviation Exam With an 80 Year Old 'US Army Air Forces' Computer. YouTube. 31 July 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  19. ^ Passing My Private Pilot Exam - The Hard Way. YouTube. 9 April 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  20. ^ Things Flight Instructors Taught Me Which Were Wrong!. YouTube. 5 June 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  21. ^ "Anne McCaffrey on THE PHYSICS OF PERN". RandomHouse.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
  22. ^ Scott Manley (1 February 2015). "Found some old graphics I sent to Anne McCaffrey when I was figuring out the comet impact for Skies Of Pern". Twitter. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  23. ^ "Asteroids In Video Games". B612. 28 January 2016. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  24. ^ "Asteroid Day Update – Featuring Scott Manley". Asteroidday.org. 29 May 2018. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  25. ^ Corridor Cast (13 February 2019). EP#14 | Joe Penna aka MysteryGuitarMan. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  26. ^ https://x.com/DJSnM/status/1746900433610666164/video/1
  27. ^ "33434 Scottmanley (1999 FU)". Minor Planet Center. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  28. ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  29. ^ "Asteroid 33434 Scottmanley". Small Bodies Data Ferret. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
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