{{Short description|German physicist, author and essayist (born 1965)}} {{Infobox person | name = Stefan Klein | image = StefanKleinPortrait.jpg | occupation = Writer, Professor | birth_date = {{Birth date|1965|10|05}} | birth_place = Munich, Germany | citizenship = Austrian | known_for = | education = Physics, Ph. D. | alma_mater = LMU Munich | website = www.stefanklein.info }} '''Stefan Klein''' (born October 5, 1965, Munich) is a physicist, author, essayist and visiting professor at Berlin University of the Arts. <ref name=KleinWebsite>[http://www.stefanklein.info/en/node Stefan Kleins's Website]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.udk-berlin.de/en/people/detail/person/show/stefan-klein/|title = – Universität der Künste Berlin}}</ref><ref name= Australian>{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,23239584-5001986,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080814082801/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,23239584-5001986,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 14, 2008|title= Stefan Klein, science writer|author=Daton Leigh|date=23 February 2008|publisher=The Australian}}</ref> He is best known for his books ''The Science of Happiness'' and ''Time: A User's Guide''. <ref>{{cite news|title=''Time in our hands''|author=Stephen Cave|date=23 May 2008|publisher=The Financial Times}}</ref> His works have been translated into 25 languages and became bestsellers in many countries.<ref>[http://stefanklein.info/en/node/83 List of translations] on author's homepage</ref>
== Life and work == Klein was born in Munich, Germany. Both his parents were chemists and had emigrated from Austria; their ancestors had been scientists for three generations.<ref name="Australian"/> Klein studied physics and analytical philosophy at LMU Munich and Grenoble Alpes University and graduated in theoretical biophysics at the University of Freiburg, Germany. He left his academic career to become science editor at Der Spiegel, a newsmagazine, in 1996, and quickly made a name for himself through a series of ten highly regarded cover stories. <ref name=Collect>Klein's 2000 Book "Die Tagebücher der Schöpfung" is a collection of these stories</ref> He was awarded the Georg von Holtzbrinck Preis, a prestigious German prize for science writing in 1998. <ref name=GvH>{{cite web |title=Georg von Holtzbrinck Awards in Science Journalism |url=http://www.vf-holtzbrinck.de/en/events/awards/georg-von-holtzbrinck-prize-for-science-journalism/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719112201/http://www.vf-holtzbrinck.de/en/events/awards/georg-von-holtzbrinck-prize-for-science-journalism/ |archive-date=2011-07-19 }}</ref> After a stint at Geo, a popular scientific magazine, he has worked as a freelance author since 2000. <ref name="KleinWebsite"/>
His 2002 book ''The Science of Happiness'' is a synthesis of findings from neuroscience, social psychology and philosophy on how positive emotions can arise in the human brain. Klein explains Happiness as an automatic signal the brain uses to mark situations promising a benefit for the organism. As it is triggered when a given situation appears better relative to a previous state, no external conditions whatever can account for lasting happiness. However, Klein believes subjective well-being can be raised by training the awareness for positive emotions when they are generated in the brain. .<ref name=CNN>{{cite web|author=Jean Chatzky|date=March 30, 2007|title=Shopping for happiness? |publisher=CNN.com|url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/2007/04/01/8403587/index.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070508171340/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/2007/04/01/8403587/index.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 8, 2007}}</ref> Alison Abbott from Nature Magazine called ''The Science of Happiness'' "an extremely well-written, easy-to-read and expertly researched book on a theme which has long been begging for pop-science treatment". <ref name="KleinWebsite"/> It was on the German bestseller list for more than a year.
In ''The Secret Pulse of Time'' (2006), Klein explored the human capacity to perceive time. It describes most people's constant difficulties in dealing efficiently with time as a consequence of the brain's organisation: Awareness for time and the ability to follow one's plans are functions of highly evolved and vulnerable cognitive mechanisms. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a German national newspaper, characterized this book as 'a protest against the deeply unfair fact that memorable time flies by whereas unbearable time stumbles'.<ref name=FAZ>{{cite web|author=Andreas Rosenfelder|date=October 4, 2006|title=Die Zeitsparkasse gleicht der Rentenkasse|publisher=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung|url=https://www.faz.net/s/RubCC21B04EE95145B3AC877C874FB1B611/Doc~EA8E29EABEB40457DB516321246D7D4D9~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612040527/http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/zeit-von-stefan-klein-die-zeitsparkasse-gleicht-der-rentenkasse-1383931.html |archive-date=2012-06-12}}</ref> Library Journal elected its English translation as one of the best science books in 2007 .<ref name=LibMag>{{cite web|author=Greg Sapp|date=January 3, 2008|title=Best Sci-Tech Books 2007|publisher=Library Journal|url=http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6533027.html?q=stefan+klein|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607140450/http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6533027.html?q=stefan+klein|archive-date=2011-06-07}}</ref>
Klein has advocated for novel ways to communicate science. In his view, science should rather be told as stories rather than by teaching facts. <ref name=EU>{{cite web|date=August 2006|title=Science and Fiction|publisher=Magazine on European Research No. 50|url=http://ec.europa.eu/research/rtdinfo/50/communicating_en.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091031225317/http://ec.europa.eu/research/rtdinfo/50/communicating_en.html|archive-date=2009-10-31}}</ref> He also opposed the unique use of English as a language of science and argued that it would be better to teach science in national languages, at least at an undergraduate level. <ref name=Klein>{{cite web|author=Stefan Klein|date=July 12, 2007|title=Dumber in English|publisher=Sign and Sight|url=http://www.signandsight.com/features/1438.html}}</ref>
His essays were published by leading German newspapers and by various English-language media such as the New York Times <ref name=NYT>{{cite web|author= Stefan Klein|date=March 7, 2008|title=Time out of Mind|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/opinion/07klein.html?_r=2}}</ref> and Nature.<ref name=Nature>{{cite journal|title= View form the Top| author=Stefan Klein |journal=Nature |volume=452 |issue = 7186 |pages=411–412 |date=27 March 2008|doi=10.1038/452411a| bibcode=2008Natur.452..411K |doi-access=free }}</ref>
Klein lives in Berlin. He is married and has two daughters and one son.<ref name="KleinWebsite"/>
== Bibliography == === English === * ''The Science of Happiness'', Marlowe 2006, {{ISBN|1-56924-328-X}} * ''The Secret Pulse of Time'', Marlowe 2007, {{ISBN|1-60094-017-X}} **Published in Paperback as ''Time: A User's Guide'', Penguin 2008, {{ISBN|0-14103-463-7}} * ''Leonardo's Legacy: How Da Vinci Reimagined the World'', Da Capo Press 2010, 0-30681-825-6 * ''Survival of the Nicest'', The Experiment 2014, {{ISBN|1-61519-090-2}} * ''We Are All Stardust: Scientists Who Shaped Our World Talk about Their Work, Their Lives, and What They Still Want to Know'', The Experiment, 2015, {{ISBN|1-61519-059-7}}
=== German === * ''Die Tagebücher der Schöpfung'', dtv: Munich 2000 {{ISBN|3-423-34154-8}} * ''Die Glücksformel'', Rowohlt: Reinbek 2002 {{ISBN|3-498-03509-6}} * ''Alles Zufall'', Rowohlt: Reinbek 2004 {{ISBN|3-498-03519-3}} * ''Zeit'', S.Fischer: Frankfurt 2006 {{ISBN|3-10-039610-3}} * ''Da Vincis Vermächtnis oder Wie Leonardo die Welt neu erfand'', Frankfurt 2008, {{ISBN|978-3-10-039612-9}} * ''Der Sinn des Gebens'', S. Fischer Frankfurt 2010. {{ISBN|3-10-039614-6}} * ''Wir alle sind Sternenstaub'', S. Fischer: Frankfurt 2010. {{ISBN|3-596-18070-8}} * ''Wir könnten unsterblich sein'', S. Fischer: Frankfurt 2014. {{ISBN|3-596-19606-X}} * ''Träume,'' S. Fischer: Frankfurt 2014, {{ISBN|3-10-039615-4}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.stefanklein.info/en/node www.stefanklein.info]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Stefan}} Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:German science writers Category:LMU Munich alumni Category:German magazine editors Category:German male non-fiction writers Category:Der Spiegel people Category:Academic staff of the Berlin University of the Arts