Rob Phillips grew up in San Diego, California, in a home filled with books, which led to a love affair with books and reading that has continued to this day. He is the Fred and Nancy Morris Professor of Biophysics and Biology at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. Phillips received his PhD in physics at Washington University in 1989. Prior to the great fun of a life in science, he spent seven years of travel, self-study, and work as an electrician. Though teaching is often viewed within research universities as a chore, Phillips finds teaching to be a central part of his attempt to learn more about how the world works. He is currently engaged in several book projects, one of which, with Hernan Garcia, provides a quantitative view of how genes are turned on and off.

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