American Physiologist and Biologist 1937-

In 1997, Jared Diamond won the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction with his book Guns, Germs and Steel, an analysis of the geographical and environmental origins of the long-term distribution of wealth and power in different regions of the world. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 7, 1937, Diamond was raised in an intellectually stimulating household by a physician father, interested in the genetics of childhood diseases, and a mother who was a linguist and teacher. Diamond became an avid bird watcher at the age of seven. All these influences led in 1958 to a biology degree from Harvard, where he studied biological research, language, history and writing. Diamond earned a Ph.D. in physiology from Cambridge, and then a professorship at UCLA in 1968 where he taught molecular physiology, evolutionary biology, and evolutionary biogeography.

Jared Diamond won a Pulitzer Prize for his analysis of the geographical...