Lawrence Krauss [right], a theoretical physicist and cosmologist who wrote the best selling book, "The Physics of Star Trek," will join Arizona State University in August to assume a leadership role in an emerging research and educational initiative on "origins." I know him from his leadership in fighting the anti-science Intelligent Design political movement.
According to the ASU press release, Krauss will join ASU's faculty as professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He will come to ASU after 15 years at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, 12 as chair of the physics department. Previously, Krauss was a member of the physics and astronomy departments at Yale University.
Scientific American has described Krauss as a public intellectual. In addition to writing the best-seller, "The Physics of Star Trek," which has been translated into 13 languages, Krauss has written six other books, including "Fear of Physics," "The Fifth Essence," "Quintessence," "Beyond Star Trek", "Hiding in the Mirror," and the science epic "Atom: An Odyssey from the Big Bang to Life on Earth ... and Beyond."
Krauss also has appeared on numerous radio and television programs in the U.S., Canada and Europe, including three BBC documentaries, National Public Radio's "Science Friday," Nova, the Discovery Channel, CBC's "Quirks and Quarks," National Geographic and the History Channel.
Krauss has helped lead a national effort to defend and promote science, from Washington to the classroom, beginning in 2002 with his own successful efforts in Ohio to keep evolution in that state's science curriculum.