Barry Commoner
Barry Commoner (born May 28, 1917) is an American biologist, college professor, and eco-socialist. He ran for president of the United States in the 1980 U.S. presidential
election on the Citizens Party ticket. Commoner was born in Brooklyn. He received his bachelor's degree from Columbia University (1937) and his master's and doctoral degrees from Harvard University (1938, 1941). After serving as a lieutenant in the United States Navy during World War II, Commoner moved to St. Louis and became a professor of plant physiology at Washington University, where he taught for 34 years. In 1966 he founded the Centre for
the Biology of Natural Systems to study the science of the total
environment. During the late 1950s, Commoner became a well-known protester against nuclear testing. He went on to write several books about the
negative ecological effects of above-ground nuclear testing. In 1970 he received the International Humanist Award from the International Humanist
and Ethical Union. His 1971 book, The Closing Circle, suggested a left-wing, eco-socialist response to the limits to growth thesis, postulating that capitalist technologies were
chiefly responsible for environmental degradation, as opposed to
population pressures. In 1980, he founded the Citizens Party to serve as a vehicle for his ecological message, and his
candidacy for President on the Citizens Party ticket won
233,052 votes (0.27% of the total).