Hope Jahren
ScientistProfessor
AuthorUnited States
Hope Jahren is an American geobiologist whose research uses geochemistry and stable-isotope analysis to study plants, past environments, and climate. She has held research and teaching positions at several universities and is also known for Lab Girl, her memoir about scientific work and her life as a researcher. [6]
Career and work
Jahren is a geobiologist whose research has focused on how plants record information about climate and the environment in their tissues. Her work has used stable-isotope geochemistry to study questions ranging from ancient ecosystems to modern plant physiology and carbon cycling. [6]
She has held faculty positions at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, and the University of Oslo. Her scientific work has been recognized with three Fulbright Awards and the James B. Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union. [7]
Jahren is also the author of Lab Girl (2016), a memoir about scientific research, laboratory life, and her path through academia, and The Story of More (2020), which examines climate change, resource use, and environmental pressures. [7]
What has been publicly discussed
Sources and other resourcesExpand to view the sources used in this profile and resources to learn more.
Sources used for this profile
The following sources contain information that supports the claims made on this page.
Lab Girl — Hope Jahren Jahren’s memoir and primary first-person account of mania, depression, treatment, pregnancy, hospitalization, and ECT.
book or publisher pageTIME interview, 2016 Covers disclosure, treatment, and how real manic experiences felt from Jahren’s perspective.
interviewThe Guardian interview, 2016 Covers hiding illness, recovery, and professional functioning.
interview
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The New School interview, 2017 Covers bipolar disorder, creativity, and Jahren’s rejection of romanticizing illness.
interviewJohns Hopkins Mood Disorders Symposium Covers identity, diagnosis, and empathy.
interviewUniversity of Louisiana at Lafayette Documents Jahren’s scientific research.
article or webpagePenguin Random House author profile Documents her academic career, Fulbright Awards, and books.
book or publisher pageNational Endowment for the Artsarticle or webpage
Learn more
Recommended books and other resources about Hope Jahren and their experiences.
- “Hope Jahren, The ‘Lab Girl’” — NPR / On Point, 2016Article
Long-form discussion of science, laboratory life, and Lab Girl.
- PBS NewsHour interview, 2016Interview
Interview about Jahren’s scientific work and personal memoir.
- The Story of More — Hope Jahren, 2020Book
Jahren’s later book examining climate change, resource use, population, food and energy consumption, and environmental change.