Sid Rosen, a UI professor emeritus of astronomy (1958-94), grew up Jewish in Boston’s West End, and his father worked in the garment industry.
Married to Dorothy Rosen they write the mystery series starring Belle Appleman, a Jewish immigrant who lives in Boston's West End during the 1930s.
Sidney Rosen wrote the popular children’s book "Galileo and the Magic Numbers," published in 1958 and which still remains in print and in libraries all over the country. Rosen also has a series of children’s science books.