Robert Kanigel (born May 28, 1946) is an American biographer and science writer, known as the author of seven books and more than 400 articles, essays, and reviews.
Early life
Born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, Kanigel graduated from
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School (pronounced ), commonly referred to among its students as Stuy (pronounced ), is a State school, public university-preparatory school, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, and received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...
.
Career
After college, he held three engineering jobs before becoming a freelance writer in 1970. Over the next 30 years, Kanigel lived and wrote in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
and
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
[ His articles appeared in magazines including the ''Johns Hopkins Magazine, ]Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries.
Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...
, The New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...
, New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
, Wilson Quarterly
''The Wilson Quarterly'' is a magazine published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. The magazine was founded in 1976 by Peter Braestrup and James H. Billington. It is noted for its nonpartisan, non-ideolo ...
, Change, American Health, Psychology Today
''Psychology Today'' is an American media organization with a focus on psychology and human behavior. It began as a bimonthly magazine, which first appeared in 1967. The ''Psychology Today'' website features therapy and health professionals direct ...
, Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
, Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
, Science 85, The Sciences
''The Sciences'' was a magazine published from 1961 to 2001 by the New York Academy of Sciences. Each issue contained articles that discussed science issues with cultural relevance, illustrated with fine art and an occasional cartoon. The period ...
, Mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
, Longevity, National Observer,'' and ''Human Behavior''.
His first book, ''Apprentice to Genius: The Making of a Scientific Dynasty'', was published in 1986. This was followed by '' The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan'' in 1991; ''The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency'' in 1999; ''High Season: How One French Riviera Town Has Seduced Travelers for Two Thousand Years'' in 2002; and ''Faux Real: Genuine Leather and 200 Years of Inspired Fakes'' in 2007. ''Vintage Reading: From Plato to Bradbury, a Personal Tour of Some of the World's Best Books'', published in 1998, is a compilation of 80 book reviews.
In 1999, Kanigel became professor of science writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
, where he helped start its Graduate Program in Science Writing, which he directed for seven years. In 2011, he returned to live and write in Baltimore. He is currently working on a biography of Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs (''née'' Butzner; 4 May 1916 – 25 April 2006) was an American-Canadian journalist, author, theorist, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics. Her book '' The Death and Life of Great American Cities ...
.
''On An Irish Island'' is an ensemble biography of the scholars, linguists, and writers who visited Ireland's Blasket Islands
The Blasket Islands ( ga, Na Blascaodaí) are an uninhabited group of islands off the west coast of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. The last island to hold a significant population, Great Blasket Island, was abandoned in 1954 due ...
during the early twentieth century. While doing research on one of the subjects of the book, George Derwent Thomson
George Derwent Thomson ( ga, Seoirse Mac Tomáis; 1903 in Dulwich, London – 3 February 1987 in Birmingham) was an English classical scholar, Marxist philosopher, and scholar of the Irish language.
Classical scholar
Thomson studied Class ...
, Kanigel came across the ideas of Milman Parry
Milman Parry (June 23, 1902 – December 3, 1935) was an American Classicist whose theories on the origin of Homer's works have revolutionized Homeric studies to such a fundamental degree that he has been described as the "Charles Darwin, Darw ...
, the "Darwin of Homeric Studies". Kanigel followed his interest and wrote a biography released in 2021 as ''Hearing Homer's Song: The Brief Life and Big Idea of Milman Parry''.
Awards and honors
* John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative abi ...
, 2008
* Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant, 2005
* Jennie Mae and Ellis L. Krause Lecture, Marietta College
Marietta College (MC) is a private liberal arts college in Marietta, Ohio. It offers more than 50 undergraduate majors across the arts, sciences, and engineering, as well as Physician Assistant, Psychology, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, an ...
, Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, 2001
Class of 1960 Innovation in Education Award
MIT, 2003
* Alfred and Julia Hill Lecture on Science, Society, and Mass Media, University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...
, Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...
, 1999
* Global Business Book Awards (Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
/Booz-Allen & Hamilton) finalist, biography, 1997
* American Society of Journalists and Authors
The American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) was founded in 1948 as the Society of Magazine Writers, and is the professional association of independent nonfiction writers in the United States.
History
The organization was established in ...
Author of the Year, 1998
* Elizabeth Lewisohn Eisenstein Prize
National Coalition of Independent Scholars
1994
* Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant, technology book series, 1992
* National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".[Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ( ...]
finalist, science and technology, 1991James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry
The James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public is awarded on a yearly basis by the American Chemical Society.Marine Biological Laboratory
The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent ...
Science Journalism Program, Woods Hole
Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at ...
, , 1988
* Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, Best Articles of the Year, gold award, 1988
* Smolar Award for Excellence in American Jewish Journalism, Council of Jewish Federations, public affairs, 1980
* A.D. Emmart Award for Writing in the Humanities, Maryland, 1979
Works
Nonfiction
;Biographies:
* ''Apprentice to Genius: The Making of a Scientific Dynasty''. Macmillan
MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to:
People
* McMillan (surname)
* Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan
* Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician
* James MacMillan, Scottish composer
* William Duncan MacMillan ...
hardcover, 1986. Johns Hopkins University Press
The Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publi ...
paperback, 1993. Taiwanese edition, Commonwealth Publishing, 1998. Chinese edition, Shanghai Scientific, 2001.
* ''The Man Who Knew Infinity
''The Man Who Knew Infinity'' is a 2015 British biographical drama film about the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, based on the 1991 book of the same name by Robert Kanigel.
The film stars Dev Patel as Srinivasa Ramanujan, a real-life ...
: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan''. Scribner's
Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawli ...
hardcover, 1991. U.K. hardcover, Scribner's, 1991. Washington Square Press paperback, 1992. U.K. paperback, Abacus, 1992. Indian edition, Rupa, 1992. German edition, Vieweg Verlag
Springer Vieweg Verlag (formerly known as Vieweg+Teubner Verlag) is a German publishing company that specializes in books on technical subjects. It is a subsidiary of ''Springer Science+Business Media''.
The original ' was founded in Berlin i ...
, 1993. Cassette book, National Library for the Blind, 1993. Japanese edition, Kousakusha, 1994. Korean edition, Science Books, 2000. Chinese editions, Shanghai Scientific, 2002, 2008. Italian edition, Rizzoli, 2003. Thai edition, Matichon, 2007. Audio edition, Blackstone Audio, 2007. Greek edition, Travlos, 2008.
* ''The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency''. Viking hardcover, 1997. U.K. hardcover, Little, Brown 1997. Penguin paperback, 1999. U.K. paperback, Abacus, 2000. MIT Press paperback, 2005.
* ''Eyes on the Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs''. Knopf, 2016.
*
;Guides:
* ''Vintage Reading: From Plato to Bradbury, a Personal Tour of Some of the World's Best Books''. Bancroft Press, 1998. E-book edition, 2010.
* ''Ideas Into Words: Mastering the Craft of Science Writing''. 2004. Co-author: Elise Hancock
;History:
* ''High Season: How One French Riviera Town Has Seduced Travelers for Two Thousand Years''. Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
hardcover, 2002. UK hardcover igh Season in NiceLittle, Brown, 2002. UK paperback, Abacus, 2003.
* ''Faux Real: Genuine Leather and 200 Years of Inspired Fakes''. Joseph Henry Press
Joseph Henry Press (JHP) is an American publisher which is an imprint of the National Academies Press, publisher for the United States National Academy of Sciences. The imprint is named after American scientist Joseph Henry.
The imprint publishes ...
hardback, 2007. University of Pennsylvania Press
The University of Pennsylvania Press (or Penn Press) is a university press affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The press was originally incorporated with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on 26 Ma ...
paperback, 2010. ZheJiang University Press Chinese edition, 2013.
* ''On An Irish Island''. Knopf. 2012.
References
External links
*
MIT Faculty Page
Amazon author page for Robert Kanigel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanigel, Robert
1946 births
American biographers
American male biographers
American science writers
Living people
Writers from Brooklyn
Historians from New York (state)