The same mix of science and whimsy caught the attention of astronaut Catherine “Cady” Coleman during a chance meeting with Simpson. She would eventually become his second wife. Coleman spent six months on the international space station in 2011.

Coleman has also become a partner in crime in a global pastime pursued with Simpson’s globes. In 1976 Simpson found some marbles on his property, which appeared to have been left there decades ago and yet were still as brilliant as ever, thanks to the long-lasting properties of glass. He began to make small glass planets, only a couple of inches across, and leave them in different places as artifacts. After he got his pilot’s license, he would occasionally drop one out of the cockpit window over a random spot, to become part of the earth’s buried treasure. He then got the notion to start the Infinity Project. Today, more than 1,700 people have hidden planets in locations around the globe. Some are meant to be discovered quickly, others are likely to remain hidden for centuries. “I hope future archaeologists will be confused about the meaning and purpose of the little spheres, wondering what they are and how they got there,” Simpson says with a smile. His wife apparently has left one inside a shuttle, or shuttle launch bunker, or space station…

Always experimenting, Simpson’s current focus is to make colloidal silver glass. When handled just right, silver can leave striations in glass “that look like those Hubble Telescope images of the birth of stars,” Simpson says, excitedly. “I want to create that look. It is very complicated, mixing and melting silver, tin, copper, zinc and other metallic oxides in different combinations. But I am enjoying the challenge.”

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