Dava Sobel is an American writer of popular expositions of scientific topics. She wrote Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, which was made into a television movie of the same name by Charles Sturridge and Granada Film, and was shown in the United States by A&E. Her book, Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography/Autobiography.

Sobel’s written works include The Illustrated Longitude, The Planets, A More Perfect Heaven, and the play, And the Sun Stood Still (Boulder Ensemble Theatre).

Sobel wrote freelance for numerous magazines, most notably Harvard Magazine, Omni, Science Digest, and Discover, as well as Audubon, Life, and The New Yorker. She saw her first total solar eclipse as a columnist with Travel Holiday, and attended Space Camp for an article in the magazine, New Choices.