J. William SchopfJ. William Schopf is a member of the UCLA Department of Earth and Space Sciences, the Molecular Biology Institute, and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) at the University of California at Los Angeles. He is a Professor and Diretor of the IGPP Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life. Schopf was an undergraduate geology major at Oberlin College, Ohio, and in 1968 he received his Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University. He is a recipient of medals from the U.S. National Science Board, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life. He received national book prizes for two edited volumes, an Alexander von Humboldt Research Award, and two Guggenheim Fellowships. Schopf is the discoverer of the oldest fossil organisms known and has carried out geological studies in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Read More Read Less