Nicholas Kollerstrom (born 13 December 1946) is an English writer and historian of science. Formerly an honorary research fellow at University College London (UCL) and BBC lunar gardening correspondent, he is the author of several books, including ''Gardening and Planting by the Moon'' (an annual series beginning in 1980), ''Newton's Forgotten Lunar Theory'' (2000), ''Crop Circles'' (2002), and ''Terror on the Tube'' (2009). He has also written entries for the ''Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers''.
Kollerstrom has been involved in a variety of issues as a political activist. In 1986 he co-founded the Belgrano Action Group after the sinking of the ''ARA General Belgrano'' by the Royal Navy during the Falklands War, and in 2007 argued that the 7 July 2005 London bombings had not been carried out by the men accused of them. UCL withdrew his fellowship in 2008 after he posted material about the Auschwitz concentration camp on websites known for Holocaust denial.〔("Dr Nicholas Kollerstrom" ), ''UCL News'', 22 April 2008.
Daniella Peled, ("College rejects Shoah denier" ), ''The Jewish Chronicle'', 24 April 2008.
Nick Cohen, ("When academics lose their power of reason" ), ''The Observer'', 4 May 2008.〕
==Education and career==
Kollerstrom attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge from 1965, obtaining his BA in natural sciences in 1968 (promoted to MA in 1973), with a focus on the history and philosophy of science.〔''Cambridge University Reporter'', 1968: Kollerstrom matriculated in Michaelmas Term 1965 at Corpus Christi College. He was awarded a BA on 21 June 1968, and an MA on 20 October 1973. MA is awarded as a mark of status within the university, not by examination.〕 He worked as a physics teacher before becoming a graduate student in science and technology at University College London (UCL).〔("Nick Kollerstrom" ), Foulsham Publishing, accessed 26 November 2009.〕
Interested in the effect of the sun, moon and planets on plant growth, he served as the BBC's lunar gardening correspondent, and in 1980 his ''Gardening and Planting by the Moon'' was published, the first of an annual series.〔Nicholas Kollerstrom, ''Gardening and Planting by the Moon'', W. Foulsham & Co Ltd, annual series from 1980 to the present; the cover of the 2009 edition calls the author "BBC's Lunar Gardening Correspondent."
Also see Nicholas Kollerstrom, ("Gardening and Planting by the Moon" ), personal website.〕 He was awarded his PhD in 1995 for a thesis entitled ''The Achievement of Newton's "Theory of the Moon's Motion" of 1702''.〔("Nicholas Kollerstrom" ), University College London, June 2005; Nicholas Kollerstrom, ''The Achievement of Newton's 'Theory of the Moon's Motion' of 1702'', PhD dissertation, University of London, 1995.〕 UCL also awarded him an honorary research fellowship.〔("Nicholas Kollerstrom" ), UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies.〕
In 1999 Kollerstrom received a grant from the Royal Astronomical Society to work on the classification of correspondence related to the discovery of Neptune, and in 2004 concluded in an article in ''Scientific American'' that the British had wrongly taken credit for it.〔Christine McGourty, ("Lost letters' Neptune revelations" ), BBC News, 10 April 2003.
William Sheehan, Nicholas Kollerstrom, Craig B. Waff, ("The Case of the Pilfered Planet" ), ''Scientific American'', 22 November 2004.
Robin McKie, ("Revealed: how Britain put the spin on Neptune" ), ''The Observer'', 12 December 2004.
Nicholas Kollerstrom, ("John Herschel on the Discovery of Neptune" ), ''Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage'', 9(2), 2006, pp. 151–158.〕 His book ''Newton's Forgotten Lunar Theory: His Contribution to the Quest for Longitude'' was published in 2000.〔Kurt Smith, ("''Newton’s Forgotten Lunar Theory: His Contribution to the Quest for Longitude'', by Nicholas Kollerstrom" ), ''Isis'', 96(3), September 2005, pp. 437–438.〕 In 2003 he wrote in ''BMC Psychiatry'' about the effect of the moon on human behaviour.〔Nicholas Kollerstrom, Beverly Steffert, ("Sex difference in response to stress by lunar month: A pilot study of four years' crisis-call frequency" ), ''BMC Psychiatry'', 3(20), 10 December 2003. 〕