The rockefeller university

Chris Impey

For decades, Chris Impey has guided readers across the expanding frontier of the universe. From quasars and black holes to the search for planets beyond our solar system, his books translate the technical achievements of modern astronomy into clear narratives that connect the cosmic and the human.

Impey, Distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory, will receive the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science at The Rockefeller University on March 9, 2026. The annual international award recognizes scientists whose books bring clarity and literary depth to complex ideas while engaging a broad public audience.

Established in 1993 by Rockefeller’s Board of Trustees, the prize honors the “scientist as poet.” It is named for its first recipient, physician and essayist Lewis Thomas, widely regarded as one of the finest science writers of the 20th century and celebrated for bridging the worlds of science and literature.

A legacy of astrobiology

Jesse H. Ausubel, chair of the selection committee, says the choice of Impey resonates with the University’s history—particularly the legacy of Joshua Lederberg, the Nobel Prize–winning molecular biologist who served as Rockefeller’s president from 1978 to 1990 and helped pioneer the field of exobiology.

“Lederberg recognized the importance of exobiology at the dawn of the space age,” Ausubel says. “He wrote prescient papers in Science and Nature and became an early advisor to NASA.”

That intellectual lineage flows naturally into Impey’s work. As an astronomer, Ausubel says, “Impey has taken on some of the most fundamental questions in science—What is life? How did it begin? Does it exist elsewhere in the universe?” Questions, he adds, that belong to poetry and philosophy as much as to biology or astronomy.

Impey has pursued those questions through decades of observational research. Throughout his career, he has developed innovative methods to observe and measure matter and energy, advancing understanding of quasars—extremely distant objects powered by supermassive black holes—and the intergalactic medium, the vast expanse between galaxies. He has refined gravitational lensing techniques and used instruments at ground-based observatories and the Hubble Space Telescope to probe these mysteries.

At the same time, he has written 10 popular science books exploring topics from the origins of the universe and the evolution of galaxies to black holes and the search for extraterrestrial life. Four of those books examine humanity’s effort to determine whether life exists beyond Earth, including his 2023 work, Worlds Without End: Exoplanets, Habitability, and the Future of Humanity.

In Worlds Without End, Impey surveys discoveries that have revealed thousands of planets beyond our solar system and explains how astronomers evaluate their potential to support life. Weaving scientific insight with cultural references—from Shakespeare to Avatar—he captures humanity’s fascination with habitable worlds. He places those discoveries in the context of Earth’s environmental challenges, reminding readers that scientific curiosity must coexist with planetary stewardship. “There is no planet B,” he writes.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Impey spent part of his childhood between the U.S. East Coast and London. He graduated with highest honors in physics from Imperial College London in 1977 and earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Edinburgh four years later. After postdoctoral positions at the University of Hawai‘i and the California Institute of Technology, he joined the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory, where he is now a University Distinguished Professor.

He has earned wide recognition for his dedication to teaching and public engagement. Impey has been honored as an NSF Distinguished Teaching Scholar, elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and became the first astronomer to be named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor.

Recent recipients of the Lewis Thomas Prize include neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene (2025), theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli (2024), forestry researcher Suzanne Simard (2023), and evolutionary biologist Richard Prum (2021). In 2002, the prize was awarded to neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks, celebrated for his humane explorations of the brain and human experience in books such as Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

The 2026 Lewis Thomas Prize presentation and lecture will take place at 6:30 p.m. in Caspary Auditorium at The Rockefeller University. The event is free and open to the public; registration is required.