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George Johnson (writer)

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George Johnson
Born (1952-01-20) January 20, 1952 (age 72)
EducationAmerican University (MA)
University of New Mexico (BA)
Occupation(s)Science writer, journalist
Notable credit(s)Writer for The New York Times; author of several books
Websitehttp://talaya.net

George Johnson (born January 20, 1952) is an American journalist and science writer.[1]

Work[edit]

Johnson is the author of nine books, including The Cancer Chronicles (2013), The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments (2008) and Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in 20th-Century Physics (1999), and writes for a number of publications, including The New York Times. He is a two-time winner of the science journalism award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His books have been short-listed three times for the Royal Society science book prize. His column, "Raw Data", appeared in The New York Times.[2]

Johnson is one of the co-hosts (with science writer John Horgan) of "Science Faction", a weekly discussion on the website Bloggingheads.tv, related to topics in science. Several prominent scientists, philosophers, and bloggers have been interviewed for the site.

Awards[edit]

His ninth book The Cancer Chronicles: Unlocking Medicine's Deepest Mystery was on the shortlist for the 2014 Royal Society Prize for Science Books.[3]

Previously shortlisted for the prize were Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in 20th-Century Physics (2001)[4] and Fire in the Mind: Science, Faith, and the Search for Order (1995).[5]

In 2014 three of his pieces for The New York Times about the science of cancer won the AAAS Science Journalism Award.[6] He won the award in 2000 for three articles about complexity and high-energy physics.

Bibliography[edit]

Johnson & John Horgan on a "Science Saturday" episode of Bloggingheads.tv
  • The Cancer Chronicles: Unlocking Medicine's Deepest Mystery. Knopf, 2013.
  • The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments. Knopf, 2008.
  • Miss Leavitt's Stars: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Discovered How to Measure the Universe. James Atlas Books/Norton, 2005, about Henrietta Leavitt
  • A Shortcut Through Time: The Path to the Quantum Computer. Knopf, 2003.
  • Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in 20th-Century Physics. Knopf, 1999. Vintage paperback, 2000, about Murray Gell-Mann
  • Fire in the Mind: Science, Faith, and the Search for Order. Knopf, 1995. Vintage paperback, 1996.
  • In the Palaces of Memory: How We Build the Worlds Inside Our Heads. Knopf, 1991. Vintage paperback, 1992.
  • Machinery of the Mind: Inside the New Science of Artificial Intelligence. Times Books, 1986. Tempus / Microsoft paperback, 1987.
  • Architects of Fear: Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia in American Politics. Tarcher/Houghton Mifflin, 1984.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Articles by George Johnson
  2. ^ "George Johnson - The New York Times". www.nytimes.com.
  3. ^ Melissa Hogenboom (10 November 2014). "Materials book wins Royal Society Winton Prize". BBC. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in 20th-Century Physics". talaya.net.
  5. ^ "Fire in the Mind". talaya.net.
  6. ^ "AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards".

External links[edit]