Trefil was born on 10 September 1938 in
Chicago, Illinois. He was the son of Stanley James Trefil (a personnel manager) and Sylvia (Mestek) Trefil (a social worker). He obtained his Bachelor of Science at the
University of Illinois in 1960, and later that year matriculated at
Merton College, Oxford, where he took a second class degree in physics in 1962. He read his Master of Arts at
Oxford University (England) in 1962 where he studied as a
Marshall Scholar. While at Oxford, Trefil was a member of the
Oxford University men's basketball team. In 1964 he obtained his Master of Science at
Stanford University and in 1966 his PhD (Physics) at Stanford University. His areas of research have included
particle physics,
fluid mechanics,
medical physics and the
earth sciences. Trefil is a physicist, author, public speaker, radio broadcaster, commentator, and educator. He was appointed a fellow of the
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford,
California in 1966. He served as a fellow of the
European Center for Nuclear Research,
Geneva,
Switzerland from 1966 to 1967. Trefil was a fellow of the Laboratory for Nuclear Science at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge from 1967 to 1968. He was appointed assistant professor of physics at the
University of Illinois,
Urbana from 1968 to 1970. From 1970 to 1975 he was a fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies and an associate professor at the
University of Virginia,
Charlottesville. He was appointed professor of physics at University of Virginia from 1975 to 1988. Since 1988 he has held the position of Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Physics at
George Mason University,
Fairfax, Virginia. Trefil was the Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar from 2003 to 2004. He has appeared on National Public Radio (NPR) as a science advisor and commentator. Trefil has been a science consultant to the
Smithsonian Magazine, a technical consultant to the
American Heritage Dictionary and a consultant to the
Adler Planetarium. Trefil is a fellow of the
American Physical Society, the
World Economic Forum, and the
American Association for the Advancement of Science. Some of the awards received by Trefil are: • 2000
Andrew Gemant Award for linking physics to the arts and humanities • 2007
Science Writing Award (
American Institute of Physics) for his article
Where is the universe heading? in Astronomy Magazine. He has also been recognised by Who's Who for his more than 50 years of contributions to the field of Physics. In 2005 Trefil married Wanda O'Brien. His first three marriages ended in divorce. Elinor Pletka (m. 1960 - d. 1972), Jeanne Waples (m. 1973 - d. 1997), Kim Gareiss (m. 1999). Trefil has five children, James Karel, Stefan, Dominique, Flora and Thomas. ==Publications==