Gina Bari Kolata (born February 25, 1948) is an American

science journalist Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists, and the public. Origins Modern science journalism dates back to '' Digdarshan'' (means showing the d ...

, writing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''.

Life and career

Kolata was born Gina Bari in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

. Her mother, mathematician

Ruth Aaronson Bari Ruth Aaronson Bari (November 17, 1917 – August 25, 2005) was an American mathematician known for her work in graph theory and algebraic homomorphisms. She was a professor at George Washington University, beginning in 1966. Career The daughter ...

(1917–2005), was of Jewish descent. Her father, Arthur Bari (1913–2006), was a diamond setter of Italian heritage. He was a WWII Marine Corps veteran who served in the South Pacific. One of her sisters is

Hood College Hood College is a private college in Frederick, Maryland. In fall 2018, Hood enrolled 2,052 students (1,092 undergraduate students; 960 graduate students). Thirty-eight percent of students are either members of under-represented racial or ethnic ...

art historian Dr. Martha Bari. Another was ''

Earth First! Earth First! is a radical environmental advocacy group that originated in the Southwestern United States. It was founded in 1980 by Dave Foreman, Mike Roselle, Howie Wolke, Bart Koehler, and Ron Kezar. Today there are Earth First! groups around t ...

'' environmental activist, feminist and assassination attempt survivor Judi Bari (1949–1997). Kolata studied molecular biology as a graduate student 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 th ...

. She received a master's degree from

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

in mathematics. She joined ''Science'' magazine, published by the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

, as a copy editor in 1973, and wrote for it as a journalist in the news section from 1974 until she moved to ''The New York Times'' in September 1987. She remains a health & science reporter at the newspaper. Kolata has taught writing as a visiting professor at Princeton University and lectures across the country. She is a "self-proclaimed exercise addict" (who thinks nothing of a 100-mile bike ride as a reward), according to a ''Times'' advertisement for itself. Her husband, William G. Kolata, has taught mathematics and served as the technical director of the non-profit

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is a professional society dedicated to applied mathematics, computational science, and data science through research, publications, and community. SIAM is the world's largest scientific soci ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, a society for mathematicians. The couple have two children, Therese and Stefan.

Books

*''Clone: The Road to Dolly, and the Path Ahead'', *''Flu: The Story of the Great

Influenza Pandemic of 1918 The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

and the Search for the Virus that Caused It'', Touchstone 2001 *''Sex in America: A Definitive Survey'', *''The Baby Doctors: Probing the Limits of Fetal Medicine'', (out of print) *''Ultimate Fitness: The Quest for Truth about Health and Exercise'', * *''Mercies in Disguise: A Story of Hope, a Family's Genetic Destiny, and the Science that Rescued Them'', St. Martin's Press, 2017

Other publications

* Kolata, Gina Bari. "Water Structure and Ion Binding: A Role in Cell Physiology", ''Science'', 192 (4254), June 18, 1976, pp. 1220–1222.

References

External links

Recent and archived news articles by Gina Kolata
of ''The New York Times''.
Gina Kolata
at

SourceWatch The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org. History CMD was founded in 1993 by prog ...

Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata, Official Book site
*
''Booknotes'' interview with Kolata on ''Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It'', February 27, 2000.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolata, Gina 1948 births Living people The New York Times writers American people of Polish-Jewish descent American science journalists American women journalists Jewish American writers Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni University of Maryland, College Park alumni Women science writers 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women writers Writers from Baltimore Journalists from Maryland American writers of Italian descent 21st-century American Jews