AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion

Biography

Robert M. Hazen, Ph.D., is a research scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington's geophysical Laboratory and Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth Science at George Mason University, received the Ph.D. at Harvard University in earth science (1975). After studies as NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at Cambridge University in England, he joined the Carnegie Institution's research effort. Hazen is author of more than 230 articles and 15 books on science, history, and music. His books with coauthor James Trefil include the best-selling Science Matters: Achieving Scientific Literacy (1991) and The Sciences: An Integrated Approach (1999). A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he has received the Mineralogical Society of America Award (1982), the American Chemical Society Ipatieff Prize (1986), the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award (1989), the Educational Press Association Award (1992), and the Elizabeth Wood Science Writing Award (1998). Hazen serves on the Committee on Public Understanding of Science of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and on Advisory Boards for NOVA (WGBH Boston), Encyclopedia Americana, and the Carnegie Council. He appears frequently on radio and television programs on science. Hazen's recent research focuses on the crystal chemistry of deep-earth minerals, as well as on mineral-catalyzed, high-pressure organic synthesis and the origin of life. In addition to his scientific activities, Robert Hazen is a professional trumpeter. He and his wife Margaret Hazen live in Glen Echo, Maryland.