William von Hippel grew up in Alaska, got his B.A. at Yale and his PhD at the University of Michigan, and taught for a dozen years at Ohio State University before finding his way to Australia, where he was a professor of psychology at the University of Queensland. He has published more than 150 articles, chapters, and edited books, and his research has been featured in the New York Times, USA Today, The Economist, Le Monde, El Mundo, Der Spiegel, The Australian, and the BBC. He lives in Brisbane, Australia.