Sidney Perkowitz was born in Brooklyn, NY, and was educated at Polytechnic University, New York, and the University of Pennsylvania. As Charles Howard Candler Professor of Physics at Emory University, his research on the properties of matter has produced over 100 scientific papers and books. He has been funded by most major governmental agencies and has served as a consultant to industry and to the US and foreign governments. He's a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In 1990, his interests turned to presenting science to non-scientists via books and articles, the media, lectures, museum exhibits, and stage works. His popular science books Empire of Light, Universal Foam and Digital People have been translated into six languages and Braille. He has written for The Sciences, Technology Review, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Encyclopedia Britannica, and others. Media appearances and lectures include CNN, NPR, the BBC and other European radio and TV, the Smithsonian Institution, the Tribeca Film Festival, and the NASA Space Flight Center, among others. He is the author of the performance-dance piece Albert and Isadora, and the plays Friedmann's Balloon and Glory Enough, all produced on stage. His newest book is Hollywood Science, to be published Fall 2007, and he's just completed his first screenplay.