Caleb Asa Scharf is a British-born astronomer and the director of the multidisciplinary Columbia Astrobiology Center at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, New York. He received a B.Sc. in Physics from Durham University and a PhD in Astronomy from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

; he did postdoctoral work in X-ray astronomy and observational cosmology at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the

Space Telescope Science Institute The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), science operations and mission operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and science operations center for the ...

in Maryland. He has an extensive research record in

observational cosmology Observational cosmology is the study of the structure, the evolution and the origin of the universe through observation, using instruments such as telescopes and cosmic ray detectors. Early observations The science of physical cosmology as it is ...

but more recently works on topics in exoplanetary science and astrobiology. He is the author of the upper-level undergraduate textbook ''Extrasolar Planets and Astrobiology'', published in 2008 by University Science Books, CA. This book won the 2011 Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award and medal from the American Astronomical Society. He has many published professional papers in peer-reviewed journals, with 109 papers listed in the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS); three have been cited over 100 times each: the highest counts are 264 139, 116, all in ''

The Astrophysical Journal ''The Astrophysical Journal'', often abbreviated ''ApJ'' (pronounced "ap jay") in references and speech, is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of astrophysics and astronomy, established in 1895 by American astronomers George Ellery Hale and ...

''. His blog ''Life, Unbounded'' appears at ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...

'' and covers topics in astronomy, exoplanetary science, and astrobiology. Scharf is the author of a number of popular science books. ''Gravity's Engines: The Other Side of Black Holes'' (US subtitle: ''How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rule Galaxies, Stars, and Life in the Universe'') was published in December 2012.''Gravity's Engines: The Other Side of Black Holes'' – reviewed by Tim Radford “Hearts of Darkness” i
The Guardian, review section page 7 on 15 December 2012
/ref> It was listed as one of the

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...

top 10 books to read in 2012 and as one of '' The Barnes and Noble Review'' Editors' Picks: Best Nonfiction of 2012. His next book, ''The Copernicus Complex'', was published in 2014 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and in 2017 ''The Zoomable Universe'', with illustrations by Ron Miller, was published by Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Bibliography

Textbooks

Popular Science

*Scharf, Caleb A. (2012). ''Gravity's Engines: The Other Side of Black Holes'' (US subtitle: ''How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rules Galaxies, Stars, and Life in the Universe''). *Scharf, Caleb A. (2014). ''The Copernicus Complex: Our Cosmic Significance in a Universe of Planets and Probabilities.'' New York:

/ Farrar, Straus and Giroux. *Scharf, Caleb A.; illustrations by Ron Miller (2017). ''The Zoomable Universe: An Epic Tour Through Cosmic Scale, from Almost Everything to Nearly Nothing''. New York: Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux. *Scharf, Caleb A. (2021); ''The Ascent of Information: Books, Bits, Genes, Machines, and Life's Unending Algorithm.'' Riverhead Books.

Essays and reporting

References

External links

Official home page
at Columbia
Scharf's blog
at ''Scientific American'' *
Caleb Scharf, professional website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scharf, Caleb Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Alumni of University College, Durham Alumni of the University of Cambridge American astronomers Astrobiologists Scientific American people