Dr. George B. Johnson was born in 1942 in Virginia, went to college in New Hampshire (Dartmouth), went to graduate school in California (Stanford), and is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis, where he has taught biology and genetics to undergraduates for over 30 years. Also Professor of Genetics at Washington University’s School of Medicine, Dr. Johnson is a student of population genetics and evolution, renowned for his pioneering studies of genetic variability.

Dr. Johnson has authored more than fifty scientific publications and seven texts, including BIOLOGY (with botanist Peter Raven), THE LIVING WORLD, and a widely-used high school biology textbook, HOLT BIOLOGY. In the 25 years he has been authoring biology texts, over three million students have been taught from textbooks he has written. Dr. Johnson has also served on a National Research Council task force to improve high school biology teaching, and has been involved in innovative efforts to incorporate interactive learning and internet experiences into our nation’s classrooms.

Saint Louis residents are familiar with Dr. Johnson as the author of a weekly science column, ON SCIENCE, initially appearing in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. As the founding director of The Living World, the education center at the St Louis Zoo from 1987 to 1990, he was responsible for development of a broad range of innovative high-tech exhibits and an array of new educational programs. The Living World opened in 1989, attracting over 1 million visitors in its initial year.

On the day of the St Louis blizzard of ‘83 Dr. Johnson married a local nurse, Barbara. They have three girls, Nikki (23), Caitlin (21), and Susie (19), and live only a few blocks from Washington University in a large rambling house shared with a skitish cat and a practically immobile dog.