Carl Zimmer (born 1966) is an American
popular science
Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...
writer,
blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
ger,
columnist
A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...
, and
journalist
A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.
Roles
Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
who specializes in the topics of
evolution
Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
,
parasite
Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...
s, and
heredity
Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic infor ...
. The author of many books, he contributes science essays to publications such as ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', ''
Discover
Discover may refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''Discover'' (album), a Cactus Jack album
* ''Discover'' (magazine), an American science magazine
* "Discover", a song by Chris Brown from his 2015 album ''Royalty''
Businesses and bran ...
'', and ''
National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
''. He is a fellow at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
's
Morse College and adjunct professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University. Zimmer also gives frequent lectures and has appeared on many radio shows, including
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
's ''
Radiolab'', ''
Fresh Air
''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's hosts are Terry Gross and Tonya Mosl ...
'', and ''
This American Life
''This American Life'' is a weekly hour-long American radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internationally, and is ...
''.
[
Zimmer describes his journalistic beat as "life" or "what it means to be alive". He is the only science writer to have a species of tapeworm named after him (''Acanthobothrium zimmeri''). Zimmer's father is Dick Zimmer, a Republican politician from ]New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
, who was a member of U.S. House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
from 1991 to 1997.
Early life and education
Zimmer received a B.A. in English from Yale University in 1987.
Career
In 1989, Zimmer began his career at ''Discover
Discover may refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''Discover'' (album), a Cactus Jack album
* ''Discover'' (magazine), an American science magazine
* "Discover", a song by Chris Brown from his 2015 album ''Royalty''
Businesses and bran ...
'' magazine, first as a copy editor
Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material (" copy") to improve quality and readability, as well as ensuring that a text is free of errors in grammar, style, and accuracy. ''The Ch ...
and fact checker
A fact is a truth, true data, datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance. Standard reference works are often used to Fact-checking, check facts. Science, Scientific facts are verified by repeatable careful observation or measurement by ...
, eventually serving as a senior editor from 1994 to 1998. Zimmer left ''Discover'' after ten years to focus on books and other projects. In 2004, he started a blog called "The Loom", in which he wrote about topics related to his books, but later expanded it into what he terms "a place where I could write about things I might not be turning into an article for a magazine, but were really interesting'. The Loom has been hosted by ''Discover'' and ''National Geographic'' for many years, and has been invited to be part of Scienceblogs. It was transferred to Zimmer's personal website in 2018. Zimmer writes a weekly column called "Matter" in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. Zimmer and the STAT team have put out "Game of Genomes", a 13-part series that enlisted two dozen scientists, with the goal of exploring Zimmer's own genome.
He has given lectures at universities, medical schools, and museums.[ In 2009, Zimmer was the keynote speaker at Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism (NECSS). He also presented at NECSS 2011 and CSICon 2018. Zimmer has twice been a spotlight speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival, in 2017 and 2018. In 2009 and 2010 he was host of the periodic audio ]podcast
A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
"Meet the Scientist" of the American Society for Microbiology
The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...
. Zimmer's 2004 article "Whose Life Would You Save?" was included in the 2005 The Best American Science and Nature Writing series.[
Zimmer has received a number of awards, including the 2007 National Academies Communication Award, a prize for science communication from the ]United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
, for his wide-ranging coverage of biology and evolution in newspapers, magazines, and his blog. In 2016 Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
appointed Zimmer Adjunct Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, stating that he is "a world-renowned science journalist and teacher, and his ability to make science, particularly biology, accessible to the general public is without peer". Zimmer has taught a science communication course at Yale since 2017 and participates in other molecular biophysics and biochemistry courses.
Fellowships
* 2002: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...
Fellowship.
* 2005: Poynter Fellowship, Yale University. Invited speaker, Psychology.[
* 2006: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant for Public Understanding of Science and Technology][
* 2010: Poynter Fellowship, Yale. Invited speaker, Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry][
* 2015: Osher Fellowship, ]California Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, that is among the largest List of natural history museums, museums of natural history in the world, housing over ...
* 2017: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant for Public Understanding of Science and Technology
Honors
* 1994: Everett Clark/Seth Payne Award for Young Science Journalists, awarded "to encourage young science writers by recognizing outstanding reporting and writing in any field of science."
* 1997: American Institute of Biological Sciences
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is a nonprofit scientific public charitable organization. The organization's mission is to promote the use of science to inform decision-making and advance biology for the benefit of science an ...
' Media Award that "recognizes outstanding reporting on biology to a general audience."
* 1999: The Pan American Health Organization
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) in charge of international health cooperation in the Americas. It fosters technical cooperation among member countries to fight communicable and non ...
's Award for Excellence in International Health Reporting[
* 2004, 2009, 2012: ]American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
's Science Journalism Award, awarded to honor "professional journalists for distinguished reporting on the sciences, engineering, and mathematics".
* 2007: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), also known as the National Academies, is a Congressional charter, congressionally chartered organization that serves as the collective scientific national academy of the Uni ...
's Science Communication Award, awarded to "recognize excellence in reporting and communicating science, engineering, and medicine to the general public", in the category Newspaper/magazine/internet
* 2015: National Association of Biology Teachers
The National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) is an incorporated association of biology educators in the United States. It was initially founded in response to the poor understanding of biology and the decline in the teaching of the subjec ...
' (NABT) Distinguished Service Award, awarded to "recognize teachers for their expertise in specific subject areas, for contributions to the profession made by new teachers, and to recognize service to NABT, life science teaching, or leadership in learning communities."
* 2016: Society for the Study of Evolution
The Society for the Study of Evolution is a professional organization of evolutionary biologists. It was formed in the United States in 1946 to promote the study of evolution and the integration of various fields of science concerned with evolution ...
's The Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould ( ; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American Paleontology, paleontologist, Evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, and History of science, historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely re ...
Prize, awarded "to recognize individuals whose sustained and exemplary efforts have advanced public understanding of evolutionary science and its importance in biology, education, and everyday life in the spirit of Stephen Jay Gould."
* 2017: Online News Association's Online Journalism Award, awarded in the explanatory reporting category.
* 2019: Science in Society Journalism Awards from the National Association of Science Writers
The National Association of Science Writers (NASW) was created in 1934 by science journalists and reporters. The mission of NASW is "to improve the craft of science journalism and to promote good science reportage". It has been called, "the nation ...
for his book, ''She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potentials of Heredity''.
* 2021: Asteroid 212073 Carlzimmer, discovered by astronomers with the Mount Lemmon Survey
Mount Lemmon Survey (MLS) is a part of the Catalina Sky Survey with observatory code G96. MLS uses a cassegrain reflector telescope (with 10560x10560-pixel camera at the f/1.6 prime focus, for a five square degree field of view) operated by ...
in 2005, was named in his honor. The was announced by the International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...
on June 16, 2021. The number 212073 is an Easter egg
Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...
for some of the properties of DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
(the first digit 2 for the double helix
In molecular biology, the term double helix refers to the structure formed by base pair, double-stranded molecules of nucleic acids such as DNA. The double Helix, helical structure of a nucleic acid complex arises as a consequence of its Nuclei ...
, followed by the nucleobases
Nucleotide bases (also nucleobases, nitrogenous bases) are nitrogen-containing biological compounds that form nucleosides, which, in turn, are components of nucleotides, with all of these monomers constituting the basic building blocks of nuc ...
encoded as A=1, T=20, G=7, and C=3).
Bibliography
Books
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* ''The Descent of Man: The Concise Edition.'' Carl Zimmer, Charles Darwin and Frans DeWaal, 2007 (electronic book)
* '' Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life'' London : William Heinemann Ltd., 2008
* ''The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution.'' Roberts, 2009,
* ''Brain Cuttings: Fifteen Journeys Through the Mind.'' Independent Publishers Group, 2010,
* ''More Brain Cuttings: Further Explorations of the Mind.'' New York : Scott & Nix, Inc., 2011
* ''A Planet of Viruses'' (2011)
* ''Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed '' (2011)
* ''Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed.'' Reprint. Sterling: New York, 2014.
* ''A Planet of Viruses.'' 2nd ed. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 2015.
* ''Evolution: Making Sense of Life.'' co-authored with Douglas Emlen. Roberts and Company; Greenwood Village, Colorado, 2016
* ''She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity.'' Dutton: New York, New York, 2018
* ''Life's Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive'' New York: Dutton, 2021.
* ''Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe'' New York: Dutton, 2025.
Essays and chapters
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* [ Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva.]
Critical studies and reviews of Zimmer's work
;''She has her mother's laugh''
*
References
External links
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Phenomena: The Loom
Zimmer's blog at National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
List of video conversations and debates with Zimmer and others
on Bloggingheads.tv
Color images of viruses from his book, ''A Planet of Viruses''
Career advice for those looking to get into science journalism
offered by Carl Zimmer
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmer, Carl
1966 births
Living people
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American journalists
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American columnists
American male bloggers
American bloggers
American male journalists
American male non-fiction writers
American science writers
Discover (magazine) people
Jewish American journalists
Jewish American non-fiction writers
Jewish bloggers
National Geographic people
Science bloggers
21st-century science writers
Yale College alumni