Positions and Recognition
Muller was a member of the JASON Defense Advisory Group, which brings together prominent scientists as consultants for the United States Department of Defense.
He was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 1982. He also received the Alan T. Waterman Award in 1978 from the National Science Foundation "for highly original and innovative research which has led to important discoveries and inventions in diverse areas of physics, including astrophysics, radioisotope dating, and optics."
Muller is a founder and the current chairperson of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature ("BEST") project, which intends to provide an independent analysis of the Earth's surface temperature records.
In 1999, he received a distinguished teaching award from UC Berkeley. His "Physics for Future Presidents" series of lectures, in which Muller teaches a synopsis of modern qualitative (i.e. without resorting to complicated math) physics, has been released publicly on YouTube by UC Berkeley and has been published in book form. It has been one of the most highly regarded courses at Berkeley. In December 2009, Muller officially retired from teaching the course, although he still occasionally gives guest lectures.
Foreign Policy named Muller one of its 2012 Top 100 Global Thinkers "for changing their minds".
Read more about this topic: Richard A. Muller
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