Personal profile
About Me
Professor Oren Harman is Senior Research Fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, and teaches at the Graduate Program in Science Technology and Society at Bar Ilan University. He was trained in history and biology at the Hebrew University, Oxford, and Harvard, and is a historian of science and a writer. His books include The Man Who Invented the Chromosome (Harvard, 2004), Rebels, Mavericks and Heretics in Biology (Yale, 2008), Outsider Scientists (Chicago, 2013), Dreamers, Visionaries and Revolutionaries in the Life Sciences (Chicago, 2018), Evolutions: Fifteen Myths That Explain Our World (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2018, and Handbook of the Historiography of Biology (Springer, 2020). His book The Price of Altruism (W.W. Norton, 2010) (Bodley Head/Random House, 2010) won the 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Book of the Year in Science and Technology, was nominated for the Pulitzer prize, and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Professor Harman has written widely for popular and professional audiences on genetics, evolution, history and philosophy of science, altruism, biography, and science and mythology. He has been a frequent contributor to The New Republic and Haaretz Magazine, and is the co-creator of the Israeli Oscar-nominated documentary series "Did Herzl Really Say That?". Oren's work has been featured in The New York Times, The London Times, Nature, Science, The Economist, Forbes, Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Review of Books, RADIOLAB. It has been supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Rothschild Foundation, the Israel Science Foundation, and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. He lectures widely, and has been a guest of the Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole; the Pasteur Institute, Hong Kong; the European Molecular Biology Laboratories, Heidelberg; the Humanities Center, Yale University; The Royal Society of Arts, London; the Department of History of Science, Harvard University; the Evolution Department, Freie University; Amrita University, India; the Edinburgh Book Festival; the World Science Festival, the Oxford Literary Festival, Berwin's Salon. He was awarded both the Excellence in Teaching Award by his university and in its Excellence in Research Award. Oren grew up in New York and Jerusalem where he lives with his wife, Yael, and their three little children. He sings bass with the Tel Aviv Chamber Choir.
Education/Academic qualification
PhD
… → Jan 2001
Award Date: 1 Jan 2001
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Ending Poverty in America Is Not a Pipe Dream
Harman, O., 2026, In: European Legacy. 31, 2, p. 211-215 5 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
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The Survival of the Kindest: Evolution’s New Groove
Harman, O., 12 Feb 2026, In: This View of Life .Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Open Access -
Metamorphosis: a natural and human history
Harman, O. S., 2025, New York: Basic Books. 381 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
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גליליאו צעיר : ירחון לילדים סקרנים: גלילאו צעיר
אהרון, ק., אילני, א., אמסטרדם, ע., ברנד, ע., דנן, ס. (Illustrator), הרמן, א., וגון-גלמידי, ב.-ש. (Photographer), לנגרמן-זיו, ר. (Editor), מוסרי, ה., פיינהולץ, ע., קורן, ש., קיסר, נ., קם, מ., קניגסברג, א.-ע., קרס, א. & שוחט, נ., 2024, הרצליה: גלילאו צעיר. 58 p. (גליליאו צעיר (סדרה) ; 251)Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
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מי גנב את המחברות של דרווין? Darwin's missing notebooks
הרמן, א., גרצברג, א. (Illustrator) & מולצ'דסקי, י. (Editor), 2024, Hevel Modi'in: למה. 173 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
Prizes
Activities
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אירוע לכבוד ספרו החדש של אורן הרמן "מטאמורפוזה"
Harman, O. (Participation - Conference participant)
19 Feb 2026Activity: Participating in or organizing an event › Organizing a conference, workshop, ...
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Named Lecture: On Group Selection and other Controversies
Harman, O. (Speaker)
2016 → …Activity: Talk or presentation › Oral presentation
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Lecture Series: The Price Equation of Evolution
Harman, O. (Speaker)
2016 → …Activity: Talk or presentation › Oral presentation
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Harvard University
Harman, O. (Visiting researcher)
1 Aug 2015 → 1 Aug 2016Activity: Visiting an external institution › Visiting an external academic institution
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History of Science Society
Harman, O. (Participation - Conference participant)
17 Nov 2015 → 21 Nov 2015Activity: Participating in or organizing an event › Organizing a conference, workshop, ...
Thesis
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The Western Reaction to the Lysenko Affair
Harman, O. (Author), Weindling, P. (Supervisor), 1999Student thesis: MA Thesis