Chandler Burr is an Americanjournalist, author, and museum curator.

Chandler Burr
Burr in 2005
Born	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Education	Principia College Johns Hopkins University
Occupation(s)	Journalist, author, museum curator

Born inChicago and raised inWashington, D.C., Burr graduated fromPrincipia College inElsah, Illinois.^[1] He began hisjournalism career in 1987 as astringer inThe Christian Science Monitor's Southeast Asia bureau,^[2] and later became a Contributing Editor toU.S. News & World Report. Burr has also written forThe Atlantic onepidemiology and public health. Burr earned a master's degree ininternational economics and Japan studies from thePaul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins.^[2]

In 1993, Burr wrote a cover story, "Homosexuality and Biology", forThe Atlantic.^[3] The story became the basis for his first bookA Separate Creation: The Search for the Biological Origins of Sexual Orientation (1996), which investigatedsexual orientation research.A Separate Creation was published byHyperion, a subsidiary of theWalt Disney Company, and its argument that sexual orientation is inborn prompted a call bySouthern Baptists to boycott Disney films and theme parks.^[4]

In 1996The Weekly Standard published Burr's article "Why Conservatives Should Embrace the Gay Gene", in which he argued that scientific research demonstrating that sexual orientation is biologically determined supports a conservative view of human nature.^[5]

Burr'sThe Emperor of Scent, published in 2003, tells how the French-Italian scientistLuca Turin originated the theory about the functioning of thesense of smell. As a result,The New Yorker proposed that Burr describe the creation of a perfume. Burr's March 2005New Yorker article recountedJean-Claude Ellena's year-long creation, in Paris and Grasse, ofHermès' Un Jardin sur le Nil.^[6]

Burr'sThe Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris & New York, published in 2008, describes Ellena's creation of Un Jardin sur le Nil in Paris, andSarah Jessica Parker's creation ofLovely in New York City under the licenseaegis of the perfume corporationCoty.^[7]

Burr's novel,You Or Someone Like You, was published by Ecco in summer 2009.^[8]

From August 2006 until the end of 2010, Burr was perfume critic ofThe New York Times.^[2]

In December 2010 he founded the Department ofOlfactory Art at theMuseum of Arts and Design in New York City. In December 2010, Burr leftThe New York Times to curate the exhibition "The Art of Scent: 1889-2011" at theMuseum of Arts and Design in New York City,^[9] which allowed visitors to experience seminal works by some of the greatest scent artists of the late-19th, 20th and early-21st centuries such as Jean-Claude Ellena,Ernest Beaux, andJacques Cavallier.^[10]The New York Times reported that when asked about his refusal to display packaging or bottles, Burr replied "[T]he smell [is] the work of art. I’m opposed to the photon. If you have to see it, I’m not interested."^[11]

In 2014 Burr established the Department of Scent Art as an independent501c3 non-profit arts organization based in New York. The DSA produces exhibitions such asHyper-Natural: Scent from Art to Design at theNational Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.”^[12]

TheBogotá newspaperEl Tiempo in its edition of 2 December 2011 carried an article on how Burr reportedly had failed to disclose his sexual orientation in petitioning toadopt two Colombianorphans. As a result, the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar halted the adoption proceedings, claiming a lack of candor on Burr's part; Burr responded that the children knew about his sexual orientation and "they didn't care".^[13] On 13 December 2011 it was reported that the adoptions were made official and that Burr and his adopted sons were reunited.^[13][14]

Burr is anatheist.^[15]

• Burr article inThe New Yorker (the making of the new Hermès scent)
• Chandler Burr Profile Page at Bold Type Magazine Interview, author reading, and excerpt from "The Emperor of Scent"; plus Burr's Top Ten List of Perfumes.
• You, or Someone Like You,Narrative Magazine (Spring 2009).
• An interview with Qu3stions
• Official website