Donald Prothero

Huge natural disasters—from earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions to floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards—have had a profound effect on human history and civilization, often in surprising ways. According to Donald Prothero, humans have an unrealistic and irrational reaction to these natural disasters and fear the ones that are least deadly while taking for granted those that are the most likely killers.

Prothero is senior paleontologist at ArchaeoPaleo Environmental Management, Inc. Previously he was a professor of geology at Occidental College in Los Angeles and lecturer in geobiology at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.