Hans Jonas studied philosophy and Jewish studies in Berlin, Freiburg, Heidelberg and Marburg (with Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger), where he received his doctorate in 1928. He left Germany in 1933, taught at the University of Jerusalem, then emigrated to North America and taught in 1950 at Carleton University in Canada. From 1955 to 1976, he was Alvin Johnson Professor of Philosophy at New School for Social Research New York City. His most influential works, including The Gnostic Religion and The Imperative of Responsibility, address the natural philosophy as well as ethical and social issues evoked by modern technology. Hans Jonas died in 1993 in New York.
