Benjamin Zuckerman

Benjamin Michael Zuckerman (born August 16, 1943) is an American astrophysicist, environmentalist, anti-immigration advocate, and an emeritus professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at UCLA. His recent work focus primarily on formation and evolution of planetary systems around various types of stars. Zuckerman was a member of the board of directors of the Sierra Club from 2002 to 2005. He has also previously been on the board of directors of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and was the president of the anti-immigration organization Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) until its merger with NumbersUSA in 2025.

Education Zuckerman completed two degrees in 1963, one in Physics and one in Aeronautic & Astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He finished his PhD thesis in Astronomy in 1968 at Harvard University.

Publications Since 1965, Zuckerman has published well over 200 refereed papers in journals such as Astrophysical Journal, Nature, Astronomy & Astrophysics and Science. He also produced a number of review papers in the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. In 2001, he contributed to the Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Zuckerman was co-author of a 2008 paper reporting first directly imaged multiplanetary system (arguably, the first directly imaged planets) around HR 8799 and a 2010 paper discovering a fourth imaged planet in the system: HR 8799 e.

In 1982 Zuckerman co-edited the book Extraterrestrials, Where Are They? with Michael Hart, a known white nationalist. In 1996 he also co-authored the book The Origin and Evolution of the Universe with Matthew A. Malkan and co-edited the book Human Population and the Environmental Crisis with David Jefferson, following a public symposium of the same name held at UCLA in October 1993.