Diane
Ackerman, Ms. Ackerman has received many prizes and awards,
including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the John Burroughs Nature Award,
and the Lavan Poetry Prize, as well as being honored as a Literary
Lion by the New York Public Library. She also has the rare distinction
of having a molecule named after her --dianeackerone. She has
taught at a variety of universities, including Columbia, the University
of Richmond, and Cornell. Her essays about nature and human nature
have appeared in The New York Times, Parade, The New Yorker, National
Geographic, and many other journals, where they have been the
subject of much praise.
Richard Dawkins,
an evolutionary biologist, is best known for his popularization
of Darwinian ideas as well as for original thinking on evolutionary
theory. He was educated at Oxford University and has taught zoology
at the universities of California and Oxford. He is the Charles
Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford
University. His books about evolution and science include The
Selfish Gene, The Extended Phenotype, The Blind
Watchmaker, River Out of Eden, Climbing Mount Improbable,
and most recently, Growing Up in the Universe.
Tim
Ferris, is the author of Coming of Age in the Milky Way,
The Mind's Sky, Galaxies, The Red Limit, and other best-selling
books on astronomy, physics, and the history and philosophy of
science. He has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the
National Book Award. A Guggenheim Fellow, he has twice received
the science writing medals of the American Institute of Physics
and the AAAS.
James
Trefil, physicist and author James Trefil is known for his
writing and his interest in teaching science to nonscientists.
He accepted an offer of a Robinson Professorship in order to develop
a new kind of science curriculum for general education, one based
on developing scientific literacy among college graduates. He
is a Fellow of the APS and a former Guggenheim Fellow. His numerous
books and articles include works written for general audiences.
In 2000 American Institute of Physics chose him to receive the
Andrew W. Gemant Award, presented for outstanding and sustained
contributions in bridging the gap between science and society.
