Robert Louis Krulwich is an American radio and television journalist who currently serves as a science correspondent for NPR and was a co-host of the program Radiolab. He has worked as a full-time employee of ABC, CBS, National Public Radio, and Pacifica. He has done assignment pieces for ABC's Nightline and World News Tonight, as well as PBS's Frontline, NOVA, and NOW with Bill Moyers. TV Guide called him "the most inventive network reporter in television", and New York Magazine wrote that he's "the man who simplifies without being simple".
Background
Krulwich received his bachelor's degree in U.S. history from Oberlin College in 1969 and his Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School in 1974. Just two months later, he abandoned his pursuit of a law career to cover the Watergate hearings for Pacifica Radio. In 1976, he became Washington bureau chief for Rolling Stone. From 1978 to 1985, he was the business and economics correspondent for NPR. Among other creative efforts, he recorded an opera called "Rato Interesso" to explain interest rates. He went on to host the PBS arts series Edge. In 1984, he joined CBS and appeared regularly on This Morning, 48 Hours, and Nightwatch with Charlie Rose. During the first Gulf War, he co-anchored the CBS program America Tonight. In 1994, he joined ABC. Annually through the 1990s, he hosted a semi-fictional year-in-review program called Backfire for NPR. In 1995, at the invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton, the group who collaborates with Krulwich to produce Backfire performed at the White House. In 1999 he hosted an eight-part primetime series for ABC Nightline called Brave New World. Krulwich, in 2004, became the host and managing editor of the innovative PBS science program NOVA scienceNOW. The show often tackled science stories considered too complex for television, sometimes using cartoons and musical production numbers to illustrate abstract concepts. In 2005, Krulwich re-established a relationship with NPR, where he made regular contributions to several programs on science topics, while continuing to produce occasional segments for ABC News. By early 2006, with several projects going at once, Krulwich decided to end his work on NOVA scienceNOW after only five episodes. Krulwich regularly moderates discussions on scientific topics at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. His presentations at the YMHA have featured such prominent scientists as Brian Greene and James D. Watson. He is a regular correspondent on the PBS investigative series Frontline. Krulwich substitutes for the hosts of NPR's magazine shows, and he co-hosts the Radiolab program with Jad Abumrad.
Retirement
On December 5, 2019 Krulwich announced via the Radiolab email newsletter he would be retiring from Radiolab, though specifying it would not be immediate.
Krulwich lives in New York City and Shelter Island, New York, with his wife, Tamar Lewin, a national reporter for The New York Times. They have two children, Jesse and Nora Ann. The couple was featured in Act 2 of Episode 226 of the Chicago Public Radio program This American Life recounting their separate accounts of an event in their lives.
