Marcelo Gleiser

(Brazil, 1959) is a world-renowned theoretical physicist and author, currently the Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy and Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth College, where he directs the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement. He is the recipient of the Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Gleiser has authored over one hundred and twenty peer-reviewed publications in cosmology, complexity theory, and the origin of life. He is an active essayist, and author of five books published in fifteen languages, exploring the philosophical and cultural roots of science. His latest is The Simple Beauty of the Unexpected: A Natural Philosopher’s Quest for Trout and the Meaning of Everything. His other books include the highly acclaimed The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning (Basic Books, 2014). He is a frequent presence in documentaries in the USA and abroad, and is the co-founder of the highly popular National Public Radio (npr) blog on science and culture, 13.7. He is a weekly contributor to the online magazine Orbiter, dedicated to explorations of science and meaning, and a frequent book reviewer for npr.