authorDiscover the Best Books Written by Lawrence M. Krauss
Prof. Lawrence M. Krauss is an internationally known theoretical physicist with wide research interests, including the interface between elementary particle physics and cosmology, where his studies include the early universe, the nature of dark matter, general relativity, and neutrino astrophysics. He has investigated questions ranging from the nature of exploding stars to issues of the origin of all mass in the universe. He was born in New York City and moved shortly thereafter to Toronto, Canada, where he grew up. He received undergraduate degrees in both Mathematics and Physics at Carleton University. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1982), then joined the Harvard Society of Fellows (1982-85).
He joined the faculty of the departments of Physics and Astronomy at Yale University as an assistant professor in 1985 and associate professor in 1988. In 1993 he was named the Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics, Professor of Astronomy, and Chairman of the Department of Physics at Case Western Reserve University. He served in the latter position for 12 years until 2005. During this period, he built up the department, which was ranked among the country's top 20 Physics Graduate Research Programs in a 2005 national ranking. Among the major new initiatives he spearheaded included creating one of the top particle astrophysics experimental and theoretical programs in the US and creating a groundbreaking Masters's Program in Physics Entrepreneurship.
In 2002, he was named Director of the Center for Education and Research in Cosmology and Astrophysics at Case. In August 2008, Krauss took up his new post as Foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and Physics Department and Inaugural Director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University. As planned, Origins will become a national center for research and outreach on origins issues, from the origins of the universe to human origins, to the origins of consciousness and culture. It will also form a cross-cutting educational theme at ASU.
In April of 2009, it hosted an Origins Symposium, bringing together some of the world's most well-known scientists and public intellectuals for scientific discussions and public presentations. Over 5000 people attended the events directly, and many more watched the live webcasts from around the world. Prof. Krauss is the author of over 300 scientific publications and numerous popular articles on physics and astronomy. He receives numerous awards for his research and writing, including the Gravity Research Foundation First Prize (1984) and the Presidential Investigator Award (1986).
In February 2000, in Washington D.C., Krauss was awarded the American Association for the Advancement of Science's 1999-2000 Award for the Public Understanding of Science and Technology. Previous awardees include Carl Sagan (1995) and E.O. Wilson (1994). In 2001 he was awarded the Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize by the American Physical Society. The citation reads, "For outstanding contributions to the understanding of the early universe and extraordinary achievement in communicating the essence of physical science to the general public."
Previous awardees include Stephen W. Hawking (1999) and Kip S. Thorne (1996). In 2001 the American Institute of Physics awarded Krauss the Andrew Gemant Award, given annually to "a person who has made significant contributions to the cultural, artistic, or humanistic dimensions of physics." Previous awardees include Freeman Dyson, Steven Weinberg, and Stephen Hawking. He was also awarded the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award in 2002 for his book "Atom."
