Henderson Cleaves, Caleb Scharf, & Carl Zimmer

Teaches at Caveat

Henderson "Jim" Cleaves is an associate professor at the Earth-Life Science Institute in Tokyo, and a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He is also the Director of the ELSI Origins Network, vice president of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life, and co-author, with Bill Mesler, of A Brief History of Creation. He researches organic geochemistry and the origins of life on Earth, as well developing new ways of detecting life on Earth and elsewhere.

Caleb Scharf works in the fields of exoplanetary science and astrobiology, and writes extensively about science for a popular audience. Exoplanetary science is devoted to the discovery and characterization of planets around other stars, and understanding the formation, histories, and properties of these planets. One ultimate goal of this research is to find planets that could harbor recognizable life, and to detect the presence of that life—an effort that falls under the banner of astrobiology.

Carl Zimmer is a columnist for the New York Times, where his column “Matter” appears each week. He is the author of thirteen books on science, and is a frequent guest on radio programs and podcasts such as Radiolab. In 2016, Zimmer won the Stephen Jay Gould Prize, awarded annually by the Society for the Study of Evolution to recognize individuals whose sustained efforts have advanced public understanding of evolutionary science.