Patchen Barss (he/him) is a Toronto-based science journalist and author, currently working on a book about the life and work of British mathematician, cosmologist, and Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose, to be published in 2024 by Basic Books in the US, and Atlantic Books in the UK. He was the 2021-2022 Sloan Biography Fellow at CUNY’s Graduate Center.

Barss has contributed to BBC Future, Nautilus Magazine, Scientific American, and The Walrus, as well as the National Post, Toronto Star, and Montreal Gazette.  He has been a producer at CBC Television and the Discovery Channel, and is the former Head of Research and Development for the documentary film company CineNova. He spent seven years as the Director of Communications at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

In 2018, Owlkids to published Barss’ first book for children, Flow Spin Grow: Looking for Patterns in Nature. In 2010, he published The Erotic Engine: How Pornography Powered Mass Communications, from Gutenberg to Google (Random House).

Barss has worked with the consulting firm Lord Cultural Resources to develop major museums and exhibitions around the world, including the Perlan Museum of Icelandic Natural Wonders in Reykjavik and the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor. He has also worked extensively in the university sector, producing events, building media partnerships, training scientists in public speaking and writing, and developing strategic communications initiatives designed to provide the public with access to emerging ideas in science and the humanities.