Richard A. Muller Richard A. Muller (born January 6, 1944) is an
American professor of physics at the University of California,
Berkeley. He is also a faculty senior scientist at the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory. Muller obtained an A.B. degree at
Columbia University (New York) and a Ph.D. degree in physics
from University of California, Berkeley. Muller began his career
as a graduate student under Nobel laureate Luis Alvarez doing
particle physics experiments and working with bubble chambers.
During his early years he also helped to co-create accelerator
mass spectrometry and made some of the first measurements of
anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background. Subsequently,
Muller branched out into other areas of science, and in
particular the Earth sciences. His work has included attempting
to understand the ice ages, dynamics at the core-mantle
boundary, patterns of extinction and biodiversity through time,
and the processes associated with impact cratering. One of his
most well known proposals is