Education
University of New Mexico.
University of New Mexico.
He is the author of nine books, including The Cancer Chronicles (2013), The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments (2008) and Strange Beauty: Murray Gell-Mann and the Revolution in 20th-Century Physics (1999), and writes for a number of publications, including The New York Times. His books have been short-listed three times for the Royal Society science book prize. Johnson is one of the co-hosts (with science writer John Horgan) of "Science Faction," a weekly discussion on the website Bloggingheads.tv, related to topics in science.
Several prominent scientists, philosophers, and bloggers have been interviewed for the site.
On Thursday, May 7, 2008, Johnson appeared on the Stephen Colbert show to promote his new book, entitled "The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments". During his appearance, Johnson convinced Colbert to touch the spark produced by one of the electricity experiments.
Colbert shocked his hand yelling obscenities that were bleeped out but appeared to be fine after the incident.