Adam Frank is the Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester and a winner of the Carl Sagan Medal.
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Scientists are limited, often failing to see what’s in front of their eyes, but that’s no surprise—they’re only human.
Adam Frank is the Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester and a winner of the Carl Sagan Medal. He is the author of The Blind Spot: Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience (MIT Press, 2025) and Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth ( W. W. Norton & Company, 2018), winner of the 2019 National Honors Society Best Book in Science.
For many years, Frank was a leading expert on the final stages of evolution for stars like the sun and the formation of powerful jets when stars first form. His computational research group at the University of Rochester developed advanced supercomputer tools for studying how stars form and how planets evolve. He has worked on life in the Universe, the search for “technosignatures” of other exo-civilizations, along with climate change and the “Astrobiology of the Anthropocene.” He has also carried out work on the physics of life through studies via an information theory perspective.
A self-described “evangelist of science,” Frank is committed to showing others the beauty and power of science, and exploring the proper context of science in culture. He has written several books, including Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth, which received praise from The New York Times, NPR and Scientific American.
Frank is a regular on-air commentator for CNN and has been a commentator on National Public Radio’s (NPR’s) All Things Considered and co-founder of its 13.7: Cosmos and Culture blog, which ran for 7 years. He is also a contributor to The New York Times, The Atlantic, and other media outlets. He currently runs the 13.8 blog on BigThink.com. He has appeared on many popular media outlets such as the Joe Rogan Experience, Pharrel Williamsʼ iamOTHER podcast, Coast to Coast Radio, and others. He has also appeared on a variety of national and international science documentaries such as “Alien Worlds” (Netflix 2020), “Mars” (Season 2, National Geographic), and “The Universe on the History Channel.”
He has received a number of awards for his scientific and outreach work. In 2020 he was given the American Physical Society’s Joseph A. Burton Forum Award. In 2021 Frank was awarded the Carl Sagan Medal for excellence in public communication by the American Astronomical Society.External
The Most Dazzling Eclipse in the Universe
The Atlantic | April | 2024
Solar eclipses like the one that millions of Americans will watch on April 8—in which a blood-red ring and shimmering corona emerge to surround a blackened sun—are a cosmic fluke. They’re an unlikely confluence of time, space, and planetary dynamics, the result of chance events that happened billions of years ago. And, as far as we know, Earth’s magnificent eclipses are unique in their frequency, an extraordinary case of habitual stellar spectacle. On April 8, anyone who watches in wonder as the moon silently glides over the sun will be witnessing the planetary version of a lightning strike.
The Atlantic | March | 2024
Adam Frank was called to science to seek a truth that transcended humanity. What he found instead is much more rewarding.
The Atlantic | October | 2023
Thanks to spectacular advances in science, we’ve identified many stars that have planets in the habitable zone where life can form. We are learning which of those planets are Earthlike enough to be worth pointing our telescopes at. We have giant telescopes equipped with spectrographs that can analyze light from distant stars, and powerful computers to simulate far-flung worlds. If we want to find aliens, we don’t need them to announce their presence to the cosmos. Instead, like detectives on a stakeout, we can just hang out with our doughnuts and cold coffee, watching and waiting.
Publications by this author
Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience
Co-authors: Marcelo Gleiser and Evan Thompson | The MIT Press | April | 2025
In The Blind Spot, astrophysicist Adam Frank, theoretical physicist Marcelo Gleiser, and philosopher Evan Thompson call for a revolutionary scientific worldview, where science includes—rather than ignores or tries not to see—humanityʼs lived experience as an inescapable part of our search for objective truth. The authors present science not as discovering an absolute reality but rather as a highly refined, constantly evolving form of human experience. They urge practitioners to reframe how science works for the sake of our future in the face of the planetary climate crisis and increasing science denialism.
Harper | October | 2023
The Little Book of Aliens considers the biggest questions in our search for extraterrestrial life, questions we stand ready to answer. Everyone is curious about life in the universe, UFOs and whether ET is out there. Over the course of his thirty-year career as an astrophysicist, Frank has consistently been asked about the possibility of intelligent life in the universe. Are aliens real? Where are they? Why haven’t we found them? What happens if we do? We’ve long been led to believe that astronomers spend every night searching the sky for extraterrestials, but the truth is we have barely started looking.
Frank, a leading researcher in the field, takes us on a journey to all that we know about the possibility of life beyond planet Earth and shows us the cutting-edge science that has brought us to this unique moment in human history: the one where we go find out for ourselves. In this small book with big stakes, Frank gives a rundown of everything we need to know, from the scientific origins of the search for intelligent life, the Fermi Paradox, the Kardashev Scale, and the James Webb Telescope, as well as the conspiracy theories surrounding UFOs. Drawing from his own work and that of other scientists studying the possibility of alien life, he brings together the latest scientific thinking, data, ideas, and discoveries to equip us with the critical facts as we stand at what may be the last moment in human history where we still believe we are all alone.
Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth
W. W. Norton & Company
Light of the Stars tells the story of humanity’s coming of age as we realize we might not be alone in this universe. Astrophysicist Adam Frank traces the question of alien life from the ancient Greeks to modern thinkers, and he demonstrates that recognizing the possibility of its existence might be the key to save us from climate change. With clarity and conviction, Light of the Stars asks the consequential question: What can the likely presence of life on other planets tell us about our own fate?
Cosmology and Culture at the Twilight of the Big Bang
Free Press | September | 2011
Time is both our grandest and most intimate conception of the universe. Many books tell the story, recounting the progress of scientific cosmology. Frank tells the story of humanity’s deepest question— when and how did everything begin?—alongside the story of how human beings have experienced time. He looks at the way our engagement with the world— our inventions, our habits and more—has allowed us to discover the nature of the universe and how those discoveries, in turn, inform our daily experience.
This astounding book will change the way we think about time and how it affects our lives.
Media by this author
Feature | April | 2022
An astrophysicist and astrobiologist, Adam Frank’s computational research group at the University of Rochester develops advanced supercomputer tools for astrophysical gas dynamics and magnetogasdynamics. Much of his current work focuses on the how life and planets evolve together. This has led him to the study of possible planetary “technosignatures” that exo-civilizations may produce.
He has also led work in exploring climate change and the Anthropocene through an astrobiological perspective. Frank has been a regular on-air commentator for NPR’s All Things Considered and was co-founder of National Public Radio 13.7: Cosmos and Culture blog He is a contributor to the New York Times, The Atlantic and other media outlets and currently co-runs the 13.8 blog on BigThink.com. Frank was also the science consultant for Marvel’s Doctor. Strange and was the 2020 winner of the Carl Sagan Medal from the American Astronomical Society.
Interview | June | 2018
Joe Rogan interviews Adam Frank, a physicist, astronomer, and writer. His scientific research has focused on computational astrophysics with an emphasis on star formation and late stages of stellar evolution.
Interview | August | 2010
Adam Frank talks about how science and spirituality are not mutually exclusive.
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