Author Hampton Sides, a best-selling narrative historian, has been named a Miller Scholar at the Santa Fe Institute for 2015. He will be in residence at the Institute for four months this fall, and he plans to drop in at other times during the year.
The Miller Scholarship is the most prestigious visiting position at SFI, awarded to highly accomplished, creative thinkers who make profound contributions to our understandings of society, science, and culture.
Scholars are internally nominated and may have backgrounds in the humanities, arts, or sciences. During their stay at SFI, Miller Scholars are free to devote their time to scholarship on any topic. They are encouraged to interact and collaborate with resident and visiting scientists, with the goal of catalyzing and crystallizing ongoing research at SFI.
Sides is best-known for his gripping nonfiction adventure stories set in war or depicting epic expeditions of discovery and exploration. He is the author of the best-selling histories Ghost Soldiers, Blood and Thunder, Hellhound on His Trail, and, most recently, In the Kingdom of Ice, which has received favorable reviews in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other media outlets.
An editor-at-large at Outside magazine and a frequent contributor to National Geographic, his journalistic works have been frequently anthologized and have twice been named finalists in the National Magazine Awards. He is also a partner of Atalaya Productions, an independent film company that develops nonfiction and historical stories for the screen. Sides divides his time between Santa Fe and Colorado Springs, where he teaches narrative nonfiction and serves as Journalist in Residence at The Colorado College.
He will be the fifth SFI Miller Scholar since SFI Board Chair Emeritus Bill Miller conceived and underwrote the scholarship in 2010. Sides follows philosopher of science Daniel Dennett (2010), quantum physicist Seth Lloyd (2010-2011), Sam Shepard (2010-2011), and philosopher and author Rebecca Goldstein (2011-2012).
Read the article in the Albuquerque Journal(January 14, 2015)