HUNTSVILLE, Alabama _ My name is Dr. Travis S. Taylor, P.E., the so-called "ring leader" of the National Geographic Channel show "Rocket City Rednecks."

I was recently very troubled by the extremely factless and defamatory nonsense printed last week in your editorial section by columnist Ricky Thomason, who said we were merely claiming to hold eight advanced degrees between myself and Dr. Pete Erbach on the show. This was printed as though it were a fact that we merely "claimed to hold them" but didn't actually have them.

I have a B.S. from Auburn in electrical engineering, a M.S. in physics, a M.S. in mechanical and aerospace engineering, and a Ph.D. in optical science in engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and a master of astronomy from the University of Western Sydney.

I also am all but a dissertation from a second Ph.D. from UAH in aerospace systems engineering and will likely graduate this summer (the dissertation topic is based on two different episodes of the show). I am also an Alabama state licensed professional engineer.

Dr. Erbach has a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in physics all from UAH. He is also a well-respected Department of Defense scientific professional in the community.

Another point is that Thomason makes light of my Dad's working on the Apollo program as if we were making that up.

Once again, this is offensive lack of journalism and insulting to the hard work of my father. He worked specifically on the Saturn V "shake n' bake" measurements (a technical term that most Huntsvillians will understand) and if you look in my textbook, "An Introduction to Rocket Science and Engineering," which is used at many universities in this country and abroad, you will see a picture of the Vanguard 1 satellite which my father built one of the prototypes for with his own hands.

Thomason also makes claims that our data and efforts are untrue, such as he claims that our bomb being the size of an IED is false. If he did his homework he would know that National Geographic Channel is half owned by the National Geographic Society and every thing we say is fact-checked and must be proven to the Society's Standards and Practices arm.

I often have to go through math, science, and printed literature references to prove to them that what we say/do is factual. Thomason seems to be claiming that the science and technical data we use on the show is made up, which is insulting and flat out poor journalism.

All of the above facts are matters of public record. They are easy to find if Thomason had done his job with fact-checking.

I don't really care about his opinion of us or the show as we are public figures now and he is entitled to whatever anti-Huntsville bitter opinion he wants. Though I must admit that I cannot understand how he believes his anti-locale tirades will make him many fans. But he is not clear to print libelous claims of our professional and academic status.

I would also point out that we have brought probably about $1 million to the local economy filming this show while employing about 30 locals, including several intern engineering students from UAH. And, season 2 will have even bigger budgets with more money coming to town. How many jobs has Thomason brought to Huntsville?