Graduated from Shady Side Academy, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1967; Bachelor of arts in physics from Harvard College, 1971; Ph.D. in physics from MIT, 1976; from 1980 - 1982 he joined the Earth and Space Sciences Division of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; unsuccessful application for NASA astronaut groups 9 and 10; he left NASA in late May 1997 to become director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; hobbies: scuba diving, camping, photography, model rocketry and amateur radio.