Roald Hoffmann was born in 1937 in Zloczów, then Poland. He came to the US in 1949, and has long been at Cornell University, active as a theoretical chemist. In chemistry he has taught his colleagues how to think about electrons influencing structure and reactivity, and won most of the honors of his profession.

Hoffmann is also a writer, carving out his own land between poetry, philosophy, and science. He has published five books of non- fiction, and six volumes of poetry, including two book length selections of his poems in Spanish and Russian translations. This is his third play (all of which have been produced); the others are Oxygen, with Carl Djerassi, and Should've.