David J. Helfand

David J. Helfand, a faculty member at Columbia University for 48 years, served nearly half of that time as Chair of the Department of Astronomy. He is the author of over 200 scientific publications and has mentored 22 PhD students, but most of his pedagogical efforts have been aimed at teaching science to non-science majors. He instituted the first change in Columbia’s famed Core Curriculum in 75 years by introducing the course Frontiers of Science, now required for all first-year students.

In 2005, he joined an effort to create Canada’s first independent, non-profit, secular university, Quest University Canada, where he served as President & Vice-Chancellor from 2008-2015. He completed a four-year term as President of the American Astronomical Society, and is currently Chair of the American Institute of Physics. His first book, “A Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age” appeared, appropriately, in 2016. His second book, “The Universal Timekeepers: Reconstructing History Atom by Atom” appeared in fall 2024.