Barry Commoner (born May 28, 1917) is an American biologist and college professor who ran for President in the 1980 election on the Citizens Party ticket.

Commoner was born in Brooklyn. He received his bachelor's degree from Columbia University (1937) and his master's and doctoral degrees from Harvard University (1938, 1941). After serving as a lieutenant in the United States Navy during World War II, Commoner moved to St. Louis and became a professor of plant physiology at Washington University, where he taught for 34 years.

During the late 1950s, Commoner became a well-known protester against nuclear testing. He went on to write several books about the negative ecological effects of science. In 1980, he founded the Citizens Party to serve as a vehicle for his ecological message, and his candidacy for President on the Citizens Party ticket won 234,294 votes (0.3% of the total).

After his unsuccessful bid for President, Commoner returned to New York City, and became the director of the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems at Queens College. He stepped down from that post in 2000, and is now a senior scientist at Queens. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Writings

• Science and Survival. New York : Viking, 1966.
• The Closing Circle: Nature, Man, and Technology. New York : Knopf, 1971.
• The Poverty of Power: Energy and the Economic Crisis. New York : Random House, 1976.
• The Politics of Energy. New York : Knopf, 1979.
• Making Peace with the Planet. New York : Pantheon, 1990.

References

• Contemporary Authors. Detroit : Gale, 2000.
• Who's Who in America. Chicago : Marquis, 2004.