also listed in:
Who's Who in the America
Who's Who in Science and Engineering
Who's Who in American Education
Dr. Eric J. Chaisson is Director of the H.
Dudley Wright Center for Innovative Science Education at Tufts
University, where he is also Research Professor of Physics and
Astronomy and Research
Professor of Education. He is also an Associate of the Harvard
College Observatory, where he teaches introductory astrophysics,
and Affiliate-director of the Massachusetts
Space Grant Consortium, based at MIT.
Trained initially in atomic physics, Chaisson obtained his doctorate
in astrophysics from Harvard University in 1972. Before assuming his
current
position, he spent a decade as a member of Harvard's Faculty of Arts & Sciences.
During his tenure as associate professor at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics, Chaisson's research concentrated largely on the
radio astronomical study of interstellar gas clouds. This work won him
fellowships from the National Academy of Sciences and the Sloan Foundation,
as well as Harvard's Bok Prize for original contributions to astrophysics
and Harvard's Smith-Weld Prize for literary merit. He has also held research
and teaching positions at MIT and Wellesley College and, before joining
Tufts, was a scientist on the senior staff and director
of educational programs at the Space Telescope Science Institute at Johns
Hopkins University. He has more than 150 publications to his credit,
most
of them in the professional journals.
Chaisson's major research interests are currently twofold: His scientific
research addresses an interdisciplinary, thermodynamic study of physical and biological
phenomena,
thereby seeking the origin, evolution, and unification of galaxies, stars, planets, and life forms in the Universe. His educational
research engages experienced teachers and computer animators
to create better methods, technological aids, and novel curricula to enthuse teachers and
instruct
students in all aspects of natural science. He currently
teaches an undergraduate course at Harvard University on the subject
of
cosmic evolution, which combines both of these research and educational goals.
In order to share the essence of his research and teaching with a wide
audience, Chaisson has written several books, including Cosmic Dawn
which won several literary awards such as the Phi Beta Kappa Prize, the
American Institute of Physics Award, and a National Book Award Nomination
for distinguished science writing. His other books include two works
on relativity, a textbook on cosmic evolution, and a volume (co-authored
with George Field) outlining the scientific rationale for the United
States' national space policy. Another book, The Hubble Wars,
also won the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award, and
his popular
textbook, Astronomy
Today (co-authored with Steve McMillan), is the most widely
used college astronomy textbook in the nation. His most current books, COSMIC EVOLUTION: The Rise of Complexity in Nature, and EPIC of EVOLUTION: Seven Ages of the Cosmos, were published by
Harvard and Columbia University Presses, respectively.
Chaisson holds membership in numerous American and international scientific
organizations, several honor societies, and a host of academic, public,
and federal advisory committees.
