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The Physicist as Novelist Author(s): Alan Lightman and Philip Morrison Source: Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts

and Sciences, Vol. 55, No. 1 (Autumn, 2001), pp. 37-41 Published by: American Academy of Arts & Sciences Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3824254 . Accessed: 04/03/2014 01:38
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STATED MEETING REPORT


--7. ?
_ ?-

The Physicist as Novelist


AlanLightman, JohnBurchard

Professor of Humanities, MIT


Introducer: Morrison, Philip Institute Professor MIT Emeritus,

The Editor's note: of Mr. presentafollowing summary Lightman's wasprepared tion Leon Communications by Eisenberg, Secretary oftheAcademy. President calledon the distinguishJamesFreedman ed theoretical physicistPhilipMorrisonto introduce the speakerof the evening. ProfessorMorrison remarkedthat the founders of this Academy had put a conjunction between "Arts" and "Sciences,"although in their day, more often than not, both were representedin a single individual. He also noted that a number of distinguished literary figures of the past century were competent in science, among them H. G. Wells, C. P. Snow, and Primo Levi.The evening'sspeaker,he Alan continued, is anotherdistinguishedexemplar. his received Ph.D. in theoretical Lightman physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1974. He served on the astronomy faculty at Harvard for a decade before moving to MIT in 1989. His recent books include Dancefor Two:A Collectionof Essaysand Fables and three novels: EinsteinsDreams,GoodBenito,and TheDiagnosis. Alan Lightman'stalk was so beautifullyconstructed that once the applause had died down, the Fellows sat in hushed silence when President Freedmaninvited comments. Nothing more needed to be said; nothing more was said. How can fragmentaryminutes convey the sheer intellectual
Thispresentation wasgiven at the 1844th StatedMeeting, held at the Houseof theAcademyon March 14, 2001.

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Alan andintroducer Morrison (MIT) (MIT). Speaker Lightman Philip

delight and stimulation Professor Lightman sparked in all of us? The challenge may warrant free-formminutes in place of the customarylinear exposition. ProfessorLightman himself had pointed out in his remarks that expository writing is meant to be reasoned, reductionistic, and direct. Each paragraphis to begin with a topical sentence that tells the reader what to expect. In contrast, topical sentences are fatal in fiction. Although novels deal with ideas quite as much as expository writing does, ideas are meant to seep in as the reader conducts his own searchfor meaning. Official minutes of Academymeetings areexpected to be brief epitomes of what was said, accurately sans editorialcomment. Those who listranscribed, ten to minutes carefullyknow this is a convenient fiction. The length of the minutes waxes and wanes with the Communications Secretary's enthusiasms. Each month he preparesa condensed version of what he believeswas said in such fashion as to persuadethe Fellowswho had attendedthe session that the minutes representwhat they think they heard, to allow those who had not attended to believe that the minutes representwhat must have been said, and to approximatewhat the speakeractually said sufficientlyclosely to allow him or her to sign off on them (for it has become my custom to submit a draft of the minutes to the speakersfor approval). Lest you think that approvalis a warrantyof accuFALL 2001

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racy, I remind you that if the lecturer demands changesinvolving more than a word or two here or thereor the addition or deletion of a few sentences, he or she will face the chore of redraftingthe minutes.That assures the CommunicationsSecretary of considerableeditorial latitude. What did Professor Lightmantell us? Physicists name things; artists avoid naming. The physicist puts a box around a concept. What is in the box is the thing named;what is outside is not. All the zillion electrons in the universeare identical. Thus, the Dirac equation with field operators summarizesall the propertiesof the electron. It is a great comfort; it providescontrol and power to be able to name things this way. The concepts novelists employ cannot be named and boxed in. Love and fear come in thousandsof varieties,each associatedwith different sensations. They must be shown, not named. The readermust draw on his own experience to flesh them out. Every electron may be identical, but every love is different.A novel is not complete until it is read,for each reader completes it in his or her own way. Indeed, he or she completesit differentlyon rereading it, because the reader is no longer the same. Artistsdo not seek definiteanswers,becausehuman behavior is intrinsicallyambiguous. The question mattersmore than the answer. In their way, serious scientists face the novelist's to "freeinventionsof the struggle.Einstein referred mind."There is no betterillustrationthan Einstein's own work on special relativity.He had the sudden insight that the speed of light is independentof the velocity of the observer.He called it "the happiest thought of my life." That imaginative leap still guides physicsa centurylater. Today,string theoristsexemplify the role of imagination in physics.They arguethat one-dimensional strings inhabiting a universeof nine dimensions potentially provide a "theoryof everything."Thus far, the theory is entirely a mental construct. Not only does it not have an experimentalbase;there is not yet a way to design an experiment to confirm
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or disconfirm it. In the end, however,string theory will have to agree with all the known facts. Similarly,what the novelist writes must agreewith what we know about human nature. ProfessorLightmanmade his thesis clearby briefly rehearsing the profound and moving ending of James Joyce's short story "The Dead." After a Christmasparty that has left him anxious, Gabriel walks through the snow with his wife to a hotel, where they will spend the night. He is overcome with admiration, love, and desire for her. They climb the stairsto their room. To his dismay,Greta turns away from him in tears.Asked what'swrong, she tells Gabrielthat a sad song sung earlierin the evening reminded her of a young man she once knew. Gabrielknows trouble lies ahead but cannot stop his questions.Was she in love with this boy, he asks. She replies that she was "greatwith him at that time." He died at age 17. What did he die of? "I think he died for me," Greta replies, and flings herselfdown weeping. How will Joyce end the scene?If Gabrielwere portrayed as indifferent, that would be false to his character. Could he feel superiorto the dead lover and dismiss Greta'spain? Gabriel is too insecure and too sensitive. Suppose he becomes furious and treats her confession as though it were adultery. That simply wouldn't work. Joyce's ending has Gabriel recognizing that Greta has always loved this long-dead boy and realizingthat he has never loved any woman with the force his wife has just shown. He sags against the window, listening to her breathing,watching her as if he and she had never been man and wife. This ending rings true, and it causesus anguish.Just as the physicisthas to conform with force and mass, the novelist has to conform with mind and heart. Both sharecreative moments. When Mr. Lightman writes as a novelist, he becomes oblivious to place and to self. He forgets where he is and who he is. That also happens to him as a scientist.He recalleda difficultperiodduring his graduatestudies.The equationshe had written to account for a certain aspect of the behavior
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of gravity didn't work out right. He struggled unsuccessfullyto find the error for months. He awoke early one Sunday morning in great excitement. He saw deeply into his problem. Suddenly, he knew what had to be done. He felt he was floating in space. He spent hours on his calculations, oblivious to everythingaroundhim, and solved his researchproblem. It was mid-afternoonbefore he knew it. Physicistsand novelistshave anotherthing in common: they do what they do becausethey love what they do. It is a blessingfull of beautyand a burden, becauseits call is unrelenting.It is the "sweethell" of Walt Whitman. It is why the Indian astrophysicist Chandrasekhar continued working in his mideighties. It is why a visitor to Einstein'sapartment found the young physicist rocking his infant with one hand while doing calculationswith the other. Rilke, asked by a beginning poet whether he should choose writing as a career, replied: "Ask yourself in the stillest hour of your night: must I write?"

Photo? 2001 by Martha Stewart.


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