Richard A. Muller is a professor emeritus of physics at UC Berkeley and a faculty senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is author of Physics for Future Presidents (Norton, 2008), a primer for anyone aspiring to the Oval Office. His course by the same name was twice voted "Best on Campus" in all subjects by a Daily Californian poll. Muller received his doctorate in elementary particle physics, but has since moved into astrophysics (anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background; supernovae for cosmology) and geophysics (origin of the earth’s magnetic flips, impact catastrophes, glacial cycles, global warming). He received his A. B. degree from Columbia University, and his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley His awards include the Texas Instruments Founders Prize, the NSF Alan T. Waterman Award, and a MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship.