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Biography
Barry Robert Bickmore is a professor in the department of geological sciences at Brigham Young University (BYU). He is also a devout Mormon, having written Restoring the Ancient Church: Joseph Smith and Early Christianity (Ben Lomond: FAIR, 1999) as well as several articles that have been published in the FARMS Review.
Bickmore was born in Redwood City, California, and raised in California and Utah. He served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Iowa. He obtained a degree in geology with minors in philosophy and chemistry from BYU. He then received a Ph.D. in geochemistry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where his advisor was Michael F. Hochella. He then was a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Colorado for about a year and a half prior to joining the BYU faculty in August 2001.
Bickmore, a conservative Republican, is known for his activism in support of global warming, such as when he criticized a proposed bill in Utah that described climate change as a hoax. The bill passed in spite of Bickmore's efforts to defeat it.
Among other callings in the LDS Church, Bickmore has served as a seminary teacher.
In geochemistry and related fields, Bickmore has focused on the study of low-temperature geochemical reactions and the development of geoscience curricula as part of the curriculum of elementary education majors.