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Daniel Q. Posin (1909–2003) was an American physicist. He was born in 1909 in Russian Turkestan, close to the Caspian Sea. When he was six years old his family fled the Russian revolution, and in a journey that took three years he made it to Mongolia and finally to the United States, the final leg of the journey on a cattle boat to San Francisco. He attended the University of California at Berkeley, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and earning a Ph.D. in physics.

Teaching
Posin worked as a teaching assistant at Berkeley for two years, and then accepted a position teaching physics from 1937-41 in Panama. He returned to the US and taught at Montana State University and the Montana School of Mines until 1944, when he went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and performed research on radar and radioactivity. At MIT he also met Albert Einstein. It was Einstein who urged him to teach ordinary people about the peaceful uses of atomic power, and that led to Posin writing the book I Have Been to the Village. Posin gave more than 3,000 lectures about nuclear power and his position on peaceful use won him six nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1946 Posin became chairman of the physics department at North Dakota State College in Fargo. In 1955, Posin, along with Cecil Haver and Baldur Kristjanson (Assistant Professors of Agricultural Economics), and William B. Treumann (Professor of Chemistry), was asked to resign by University President Frederick Hultz in what became known as "The Purge". In 1956, he took a position teaching physics at DePaul University. From 1967 until 1996 Dr. Posin taught Astronomy, Earth Science and Physics at San Francisco State University. He often promoted humanitarian relief efforts such as Project Guatemala in 1974 during his tenure there.

Television
In his television career he explained astronomy, physics and space. He won six Emmys for his educational series broadcast by WGN and WTTW, including "Dr. Posin's Universe", "The Universe Around Us", "On the Shoulders of Giants", and "Out of This World". He served as an on-air consultant for WGN during the 1960s space race.

Comments on UFOs
In a 1960 article in Popular Mechanics magazine, Posin contributed an article discussing the wave in the U.S. of UFO sightings. He described a personal experience when he lived in Panama in which he believed he may have seen a UFO. In the conclusion to the article, however, he wrote, "Have any genuine saucers come to us from outer space? The answer our foremost scientists give us is: 'Probably not. But they can come and they might come--any day!'"

Later life
In 1967 Posin began teaching physics again at San Francisco State University where he taught physics and earth sciences until he retired in 1996 at the age of 87. Posin died at the age of 93 at the Woldenberg Village Nursing Home in New Orleans. Throughout his life he was "resolutely nonreligious," according to his daughter Kathryn. However, his wife adopted the Bahá'í Faith, and he expressed desire to “to go where she’s going.”

Recognition
Posin was awarded six Emmy awards for his for educational programming in television. Also, in 1972 he was given the James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize six times.

Untitled
His book I Have Been to the Village includes a quote by Einstein, who wrote: "Dr. Dan Q. Posin's book bears eloquent witness to the sincere and self-sacrificing way in which the ablest among the scientists try to fulfill their duty toward the community." Posin authored over 30 books.

Books
Physics: Its Marvels and Mysteries Whitman Publishing Company (1961)

Dr. Posin's giants: Men of science Row, Peterson (1961)

I Have Been To The Village Edwards Brothers (1948)

Out of this world Popular Mechanics Press (1959)

What is a dinosaur Benefic Press (1961)

Man and the Desert Lyons and Carnahan (1963) Mendeleyev, the story of a great scientist Kessinger Publishing, LLC (September 10, 2010)

What is Matter Benefic Press (1962)

What Is Electronic Communication Benefic Press (1963)

Man and the earth Lyons and Carnahan (1963)

Man and the sea Lyons and Carnahan (1963)

What Is a Star Benefic Press (1961)

What Is Chemistry Benefic Press (1961)

What Is Energy Benefic Press (1962)

Exploring and Understanding Rockets and Satellites Benefic Press (1967)

Chemistry for the space age Lippincott (1961)

Exploring and understanding our solar system Benefic Press (1968)

Man and the jungle Lyons and Carnahan (1963)

Science in the age of space Quadrangle Books (1965)

Experiments and exercises in chemistry Lippincott (1961)

Mastery tests for use with Experiments and exercises in chemistry Lippincott (1961)

Find Out! - First Step to the Future Whitman (1964)

Life Beyond Our Planet: A Scientific Look at Other Worlds in Space McGraw-Hill (1962)

The Next Billion Years San Francisco State University (1973)