Michael Shermer
Founding Publisher, Skeptic Magazine
Dr. Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of
Skeptic magazine, the host of the podcast
The Michael Shermer Show, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101. For 18 years he was a monthly columnist for
Scientific American. He writes a weekly
Substack column. He is the author of
New York Times bestsellers
Why People Believe Weird Things and
The Believing Brain,
Why Darwin Matters,
The Science of Good and Evil,
The Moral Arc,
Heavens on Earth, and
Giving the Devil His Due: Reflections of a Scientific Humanist. Follow him on Twitter
@michaelshermer.
Michael regularly contributes opinion editorials, essays, and reviews to: the
Wall Street Journal, the
Los Angeles Times,
Science,
Nature, and other publications. He wrote 214 consecutive monthly
columns for
Scientific American. He appeared on such shows as
The Colbert Report,
20/20,
Dateline,
Charlie Rose, Oprah, and
Larry King Live (but, proudly, never
Jerry Springer!). He has been interviewed in countless documentaries aired on PBS, A&E, Discovery, The History Channel, The Science Channel, and The Learning Channel. Dr. Shermer was the co-host and co-producer of the 13-hour Family Channel television series,
Exploring the Unknown. His
two TED talks, seen by millions, were voted in the top 100.
Dr. Shermer received his B.A. in psychology from Pepperdine University, M.A. in experimental psychology from California State University, Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in the history of science from Claremont Graduate University. He has been a college professor since 1979, also teaching at Occidental College, Glendale College, and Claremont Graduate University, where he taught a transdisciplinary course for Ph.D. students on Evolution, Economics, and the Brain.