Nelson H. Lawry holds a PhD in cell biology from the City University of New York. Thereafter he received a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship to conduct research at the University of Rochester. Winner of the the 1993 John M. Collier Award for Forest History Journalism, Lawry has been a columnist for two newspapers, writing on local history, the history of technology, and the freshwater environment. He has researched and written extensively on American and British harbor defense and coast artillery.