Richard Muller is a Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Faculty Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. He is known for his broad range of achievements, in fields ranging from particle physics to geophysics, applied physics, and astrophysics. His skill at explaining science to non-scientists was honed over decades of advising top business and government leaders. For 34 years he was a Jason consultant to the U.S. government on national security.

Muller was appointed to the faculty at Berkeley in 1980. For many years, he taught the courses designed for physics majors. In 2001, he was asked to teach the course for liberal arts students, then dubbed Physics for Poets. He completely revised the course, and wrote the present book to accompany it.

He is the author of several other books: Nemesis (about dinosaur extinctions, 1988), The Three Big Bangs (with Phil Dauber, 1996), Ice Ages and Astronomical Causes (with Gordon MacDonald, a technical introduction to paleoclimate study, 2000), and The Sins of Jesus (1999, a novel in which Jesus is depicted as a prophet, with no supernatural powers). For three years he wrote a monthly column for MIT's Technology Review, "Technology for Presidents", based on his course PffP at Berkeley. His articles illuminate world affairs by bringing in relevant physics. They are available on his website (address below).

His work has been honored by many awards, including the Alan T. Waterman Award of the National Science Foundation, the Texas Instruments Founders Prize, and a MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship. He was listed by Newsweek Magazine in 1989 as one of the top 25 innovators in the United States. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the California Academy of Arts and Sciences. Muller won a Distinguished Teacher Award at Berkeley in 1999.