James S. Trefil is the Clarence J Robinson Professor of Physics at George Mason University and author of more than fifty books. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the AAAS, and the World Economic Forum. Much of his published work focuses on science for the general audience. He regularly gives presentations to judges and public officials about the intersections between science and the law. His most recent books are
Cosmic Queries, with Neil deGrasse Tyson, which deals with fundamental questions about the universe and was on the New York Times best seller list, and
Imagined Life with Michael Summers, which examines the possibility of life on newly discovered exoplanets.
Robert M. Hazen is Senior Staff Scientist at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory and Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, Emeritus, at George Mason University. He is author of more than 400 articles and 25 books on science, history, and music. His book The Story of Earth (Viking-Penguin), was finalist in the Royal Society and Phi Beta Kappa science book competitions. A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Geochemical Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the Geological Society of America, he received the 2021 IMA Medal, the 2016 Roebling Medal, the Mineralogical Society of America Award and MSA's Distinguished Public Service Medal, and the American Chemical Society Ipatieff Prize. In 2012 he was recipient of Virginia's Outstanding Faculty Award. He has presented numerous named lectures and was Distinguished Lecturer for Sigma Xi and MSA, for which he is a past President. The biomineral "hazenite" and the fossil dolphin Cammackacetus hazenorum were named in his honor.
