MARK ALPERT has been an editor at Scientific American for the past ten years. His job is to simplify bewildering scientific ideas for the magazine's readers, explaining concepts such as string theory, extra dimensions and parallel universes. "Final Theory" is his debut novel, a thriller about Albert Einstein and a long-hidden set of equations that could destroy the world. A lifelong science geek, he attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City and then majored in astrophysics at Princeton University. Mark lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children. He's a proud member of his magazine's softball team, the Scientific American Big Bangers.