Jared Diamond. Caricature of the American scientist and author Jared Mason Diamond (born 1937) holding one of his books. Diamond's scientific work draws on a number of fields including ecology, anthropology, evolutionary biology, genetics, linguistics and ornithology. He is currently (as of 2011) professor of Geography and Physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is best known as the author of the award-winning popular science books 'The Third Chimpanzee', 'Guns Germs and steel' and 'Collapse'.