Francis Slakey

Francis Slakey directs APS' advocacy, fundraising, and international and public engagement activities, key elements of giving voice to the physics community.

In addition to his technical publications in the field of condensed matter physics, he has also published in the popular press including The New York Times, Washington Post, and Scientific American. Slakey has spoken extensively on science policy issues, including to the U.S. Strategic Command, the Library of Congress, TEDx, and Google.

Slakey has served in advisory positions for a diverse set of organizations including the National Geographic Society, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Creative Coalition. He is a Fellow of APS and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and served as the Upjohn Lecturer on Physics and Public Policy at Georgetown University, where he founded the university’s Program on Science in the Public Interest.

Slakey is the first person to combine summiting the highest mountain on every continent and surfing every ocean. He became the 28th American to summit Mt. Everest in an environmental expedition that was the subject of the documentary Beyond the Summit, which was aired by National Geographic and described in his Amazon top-ten-of-2012 memoir To The Last Breath. In recognition of his adventures, as part of the 2002 Olympic Games, he carried the Olympic torch from the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

Slakey received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.