Dorian Abbot

Dorian Abbott is a professor in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Physics, Master of Science, and Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University. Abbot’s research employs mathematical and computational models to explore topics such as climate dynamics, planetary habitability, and exoplanetary atmospheres.

Dorian was invited to give the prestigious John Carlson Lecture at MIT, on the topic of the habitability of planets outside our Solar System. It was scheduled for October 2021. In 2020 Prof. Abbot had made YouTube videos advocating to treat people as individuals and hiring them on that basis rather than on group identity. He then published an op-ed in Newsweek advocating Merit, Fairness, and Equality (MFE) in place of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for faculty hiring and promotion. A Twitter campaign was begun to get him disinvited from giving lectures at other universities, including MIT. Eight days later, the MIT lecture was cancelled. The disinvitation was announced by the chair of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences (EAPS). In recognition of his contributions to academic discourse, he received the Hero of Intellectual Freedom Award from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.

For his courage to pursue and publish free inquiry, the Columbia Academic Freedom Council is honored to present Prof. Dorian Abbot with the 2025 Academic Freedom Award.