Alan Lightman

Alan Lightman is a physicist, novelist, and essayist born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1948. He is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author of the international bestseller "Einstein's Dreams".

Biography

Lightman was born the son of Richard Lightman, a movie theater owner, and Jeanne Garretson, a dancing teacher and volunteer Braille typist.

From an early age, he was interested by both science and the arts and, while in high school, began independent science projects and writing poetry. His unusual combination of talents in both science and creative writing drew attention as he won city and state-wide science fairs as well as the state-wide competition for the National Council of Teachers of English award. He graduated from White Station High School in Memphis. Lightman received his AB degree in physics from Princeton University in 1970, "magna cum laude", where he was Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1974, where he had received a National Science Foundation pre-doctoral fellowship. His thesis advisor was relativist Kip Thorne. From 1974 to 1976, Lightman was a postdoctoral fellow in astrophysics at Cornell University. During this period, he began publishing poetry in small literary magazines. He was an Assistant Professor of astronomy at Harvard University from 1976 to 1979 and from 1979 to 1989 a research scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. In 1989, Lightman was appointed professor of science and writing and senior lecturer in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was the firstprofessor at MIT to receive a joint appointment in science and the humanities. In 1995, he was appointed John Burchard Professor of Humanities at MIT, a position that he resigned in 2002 to allow himself more time for writing. He currently teaches at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as Adjunct Professor of Humanities.

cientific Work

In his scientific work, Lightman has made fundamental contributions to the theory of astrophysical processes under extreme temperatures and densities. In particular, his research has focused on relativistic gravitation theory, the structure and behavior of accretion disks, stellar dynamics, radiative processes, and relativistic plasmas. He is best known for his discovery, with Douglas Eardley, of a secular instability in accretion disks, which have wide application in astronomy; for his proof, with David Lee, that all gravitation theories obeying the Weak Equivalence Principle must be metric theories of gravity; for his discovery of the negative heat behavior of optically thin, hot thermal plasmas dominated by electron-positron pairs; and for his work on unsaturated inverse Compton scattering in thermal media, also with wide application in astrophysics. His research articles have appeared in "the Physical Review, the Astrophysical Journal, Reviews of Modern Physics, Nature," and other journals. In 1990, he chaired the science panel of the National Academyof Sciences Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee. He is a past chair of the High Energy Division of the American Astronomical Society.

Literary Work

In 1981, Lightman began publishing essays about science, the human side of science, and the "mind of science", beginning with "Smithsonian" and moving to "Science 82", "The New Yorker", and other magazines. Since that time, Lightman's essays, short fiction, and reviews have also appeared in "The American Scholar", "The Atlantic Monthly", "Boston Review", "Dædalus", "Discover", "Exploratorium", "Granta", "Harper's Magazine", "Harvard Magazine", "Inc Technology", "Nature", "The New York Review of Books", "The New York Times", "Science 86", "The Sciences", "Story", "Technology Review", and "World Monitor".

Lightman's novel "Einstein's Dreams" was an international bestseller and has been translated into thirty languages. It was runner up for the 1994 PEN New England / Boston Globe Winship Award. "Einstein's Dreams" was also the March 1998 selection for National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" Book Club. The novel has been used in numerous colleges and universities, in many cases for university-wide adoptions in "common-book" programs, and is one of the mostly widely used texts in American colleges today. Lightman's novel "The Diagnosis" was a finalist for the 2000 National Book Award in fiction and has been adopted by high school teachers of Advanced Placement English. In 2007 Lightman released his most recent novel, "Ghost", an examination of the dichotomies of the physical world and the spiritual world, scepticism and faith, the natural and the supernatural, and science and religion.

More than two dozen independent theatrical and musical productions have been based on "Einstein's Dreams", including a production at Chicago's National Pastime Theater in 2000, produced and directed by Patrizia Acerra and Dawn Arnold; a production at Paradise Theater in New York in 2001, produced and directed by Paul Stancato and Brian Rhinehart; a production at the Culture Project Theater in New York in 2003, directed by Rebecca Holderness; a production at the People's Branch Theater in Nashville in 2003, adapted by Brian Niece and David Alford, directed by David Alford; a musical production at the Martin Segal Theater of CUNY in New York in 2003, produced by Brian Schwartz with music and lyrics by Joshua Rosenblum and Joanne Lessner; a production by the Underground Railway Theater in Boston in 2006; and a production by the University of Memphis in 2006, under the direction of Gloria Baxter; a musical composition titled "In This World" by Paul Hoffman in 2000 and performed by the Silverwood Trio on their own CD; and a musical composition titled "When Einstein Dreams" by Nando Michelin in 2003 and performed by the Nando Michelin Group on a Double Times Record CD. A major musical adaptation is now being planned for the Prince Theater in Philadelphia, directed by Marjorie Samov.

Other Major Projects

In 1999, Lightman founded the [http://harpswellfoundation.org Harpswell Foundation] ,a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide educationalopportunities to disadvantaged children and young people. The Foundationis funded from the donations of private individuals. All majorprojects of the Foundation so far have taken place in Cambodia, acountry in desperate need after essentially all of its educated classwere destroyed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. In June 2005, theHarpswell Foundation completed a four-room school building in thevillage of Tramung Chrum, about 50 miles from Phnom Penh. In July 2006,the Foundation completed a dormitory and leadership center for college women inPhnom Penh, allowing outstanding women to attend college.This dormitory is one of the first dormitories in Cambodia. Its studentsattend seven different universities in Phnom Penh. Not having a safeplace to live while attending college has been themajor obstacle preventing young women from outside Phnom Penh(over 90% of the population) to receive a college education and become leaders. Colleges in Cambodia do not provide housing for their students. Male students can live in the Buddhist temples, but female students cannot. Thedormitory houses 36 women, who have been selected on the basis oftheir intelligence, ambition, and leadership potential. In addition to providing free housing, the Harpswell Foundation Dormitory gives these young women food and medical care; classes in English, French, and computer skills; readings and discussion of current events in Cambodia and the world; and a weekly leadership seminar.

Awards and Honors

* Finalist for 2000 National Book Award in fiction for "The Diagnosis"
* Finalist for the 2005 Massachusetts Book Award for "A Sense of the Mysterious"
* Association of American Publishers' Award for best science book of 1990 for "Origins"
* Literary Light of the Boston Public Library
* Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Bowdoin College in 2005
* Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Memphis College of Arts in 2006
* Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from the University of Maryland, Baltimore Country in 2006
* Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
* 1996 Andrew Gemant Award of the American Institute of Physics for linking science and the humanities
* Distinguished Alumni Award of the California Institute of Technology in 2003
* Distinguished Arts and Humanities Medal for Literature of the Germantown Arts Alliance of Tennessee in 2003
* 2006 John P. McGovern Science and Society Award by Sigma Xi
* Gold Medal for humanitarian service to Cambodia, awarded by the government of Cambodia

Bibliography

Books

*"Problem Book in Relativity and Gravitation" / Alan P. Lightman, W. H. Press, R. H. Press and S. A. Teulkolsky. - Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, (1975). - ISBN 0-691-08160-3
*"Radiative Processes in Astrophysics" / George B. Rybicki, Alan P. Lightman. - New York : Wiley, (1979). - (A Wiley-Interscience publication). Rev edition (2004): ISBN 0-471-82759-2
*"Revealing the Universe : Prediction and Proof in Astronomy" / edited by James Cornell and Alan P. Lightman. - Cambridge, Massachusetts , 1982 ISBN 0-262-03080-2
*"Time Travel and Papa Joe’s Pipe" / Alan P. Lightman ; with ten illustrations by Laszlo Kubinyi. - New York : Scribner, 1984. - ISBN 0684181126
*"A Modern Day Yankee in a Connecticut Court : and Other Essays on Science". - New York : Viking Press, 1986. - ISBN 0-670-81239-0
*"Origins : the Lives and Worlds of Modern Cosmologists" / Alan Lightman and Roberta Brawer. - Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1990. - ISBN 0-674-64470-0
*"Ancient Light : Our Changing View of the Universe". - Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1991. - ISBN 0-674-03362-0
*"Great Ideas in Physics". - New York : McGraw-Hill, 1992. - ISBN 0-07-037935-1
*"Time for the Stars : Astronomy in the 1990s". - New York, Viking Press, 1992. - ISBN 0-670-83976-0
*"Einstein's Dreams". - New York : Pantheon Books, 1993. - ISBN 0-679-41646-3
*"Good Benito". - New York : Pantheon Books, 1994. - ISBN 0-679-43614-6
*"Dance for Two : Selected Essays". - New York : Pantheon Books, 1996. - ISBN 0-679-75877-1
*"Great Ideas in Physics", 2nd ed. - New York : McGraw-Hill, 1997. - ISBN 0-07-038048-1
*"Great Ideas in Physics : the Conservation of Energy, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the Theory of Relativity, and Quantum Mechanics". - 3rd ed. - New York : McGraw-Hill, 2000. - ISBN 0-07-135738-6
*"The Diagnosis". - New York : Pantheon Books, 2000. - ISBN 0-375-72550-4
*"The World is Too Much with Me : Finding Private Space in the Wired World". - Toronto : Hart House, University of Toronto, 2002. - (The Hart House lecture ; 2). - ISBN 0969438222
*"Reunion". - New York : Pantheon Books, 2003. - ISBN 0-375-42167-X
*"Living With the Genie : Essays on Technology and the Quest for Human Mastery" / edited by Alan Lightman, Daniel Sarewitz, Christina Desser. - Washington, DC : Island Press , 2003. - ISBN 1-55963-419-7
*"Heart of the Horse" / photographs by Juliet Van Otteren ; foreword by Jane Goodall ; text by Alan Lightman. - New York : Barnes & Noble, 2004. - ISBN 0760759278
*"The Discoveries : Great Breakthroughs in 20th Century Science". - New York : Pantheon Books, 2005. - ISBN 0-375-42168-8
*"A Sense of the Mysterious : Science and the Human Spirit". - New York : Pantheon Books, 2005. - ISBN 0-375-42320-6
*"Ghost". - New York : Pantheon Books, October 2007. - ISBN 978-0-375-42169-3

Selected Essays

*"A Brief Version of Time", The New York Times, Op-Ed Page, February 8, 1993.
*"The Uncertainty Principle," Technology Review, April 1996; also published under the title "Seasons"
*"Hallelujah," in A Place Within, ed. Jodi Daynard (New York: W.W. Norton) (1996)
*"The Contradictory Genius," The New York Review of Books, March 20, 1997.
*"A Cataclysm of Thought" The Atlantic Monthly, January 1999.
*"One Stuff," Harvard Magazine, July-August 1999.
*"In God's Place," The New York Times Magazine, September 19, 1999.
*"The Writing Life," The Washington Post, Book World, April 23, 2000.
*"Portrait of the Writer as a Young Scientist," The New York Times, Science Times, May 9, 2000.
*"Capturing the Light," The New York Times, Op-Ed page, February 7, 2001.
*"In the Name of Love?," Nature, October 8, 2001.
*"Prisoners of the Wired World," Globe and Mail (Canada), March 16, 2002.
*"Megaton Man," New York Review of Books, May 23, 2002.
*"The Art of Science," New Scientist, December 28, 2002.
*"The Lure of Genius," Seed, Jan/Feb 2003.
*"Art that Transfigures Science," The New York Times, Arts and Ideas, March 15, 2003.
*"The World is Too Much with Me" in Living with the Genie, ed. Chris Deser, Alan Lightman, and Daniel Sarewitz
*"A Sense of the Mysterious," Daedalus, Fall 2003
*"Spellbound by the Eternal Riddle," The New York Times, Science Times, November 11, 2003
*"The Power of Books " (Letter from Cambodia), Boston Globe, Op-Ed, January 18, 2004
*"Einstein and Newton," Scientific American, September 2004
*"The Twilight Zone," in Prime Time, ed. Douglas Bauer (New York: Crown) (2004)
*"A Tale of Two Loves," Nature, March 17, 2005
*"Red, White, and Bamboo," (Second Letter from Cambodia), The New York Times, Op-Ed Page, July 5, 2005
*"Wheels of Fortune," Science & Spirit, May-June 2006
*"Tick Tock Watch the Clock," Globe and Mail, March 10, 2007

External links

* [http://mit.edu/humanistic/www/faculty/lightman.html Lightman's Website at MIT]
* [http://harpswellfoundation.org The Harpswell Foundation]
* [http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum128.html Interview with Robert Birnbaum of Identitythory.com]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4632997 Online audio interview with NPR about science and art]
* [http://www.brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/1222/Einstein's%20D.htm Review of Einstein's Dreams]
* [http://thoughtcast.org/casts/alan-lightman Alan Lightman] speaks with [http://thoughtcast.org/about/#about-the-host Jenny Attiyeh] on *ThoughtCast about his new book, [http://www.randomhouse.com/pantheon/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375421693 Ghost]
* [http://www.aip.org/isns/reports/2008/019.html Interview with Jim Dawson for Inside Science]
* [http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/19/asia/19lightman.php Lightman's work in Cambodia featured in The International Herald Tribune]
* [http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/11/20071127_b_main.asp "On Point" interview with NPR, about science and religion, and Ghost]