Avery Gilbert is a self-described "smell scientist"[1] and "sensory psychologist".
[2] Gilbert received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania under the tutelage of Norman Adler.
[4] In an interview with online fragrance magazine Sniffapalooza,[5] Gilbert states that he was inspired to write What the Nose Knows when his science colleagues expressed enthusiasm for his tough review of Chandler Burr's The Emperor of Scent[6] published in Nature Neuroscience in April 2003.
[7] Gilbert wrote that Burr's biography of geneticist and Perfumes: The Guide author Luca Turin was "giddy and overwrought ... a triumphalist account of an unproven alternate theory".
He previously founded Synesthetics, Inc., a multisensory research and consulting company specializing in the consumer impact of smell, co-authored the National Geographic Smell Survey,[8] served as President of the Sense of Smell Institute, VP for Sensory Psychology at Givaudan Roure Fragrances, VP of sensory research for DigiScents (which shut down in 2001 due to lack of additional funding—the company had invested $20 million to develop technology to provide the sense of smell to the Internet, including investments from Givaudan and Quest International).