Alan Lightman is a physicist, novelist, and essayist born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1948, son of Richard Lightman, a movie theater owner, and Jeanne Garretson, a dancing teacher and volunteer Braille typist. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... An essayist is an author who writes compositions which can be about any particular subject. ... For other uses, see Memphis (disambiguation). ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ...

From an early age, he was entranced by both science and the arts and, while in high school, began independent science projects and writing poetry. 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; 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 2005, Lightman received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Bowdoin College. He currently teaches at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as Adjunct Professor of Humanities. White Station High School is a public high school in Memphis, Tennessee located at 514 South Perkins Road, 38117. ... Princeton University is a coeducational private university located in Princeton, New Jersey in the United States of America. ... // Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. ... The Phi Beta Kappa Key The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society with the mission of fostering and recognizing excellence in undergraduate liberal arts and sciences. ... Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. ... Theoretical physics employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics, as opposed to experimental processes, in an attempt to understand Nature. ... The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech)[1] is a private, coeducational university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Look up thesis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... General relativity (GR) or general relativity theory (GRT) is the theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915. ... Kip S. Thorne Professor Kip Stephen Thorne, Ph. ... Spiral Galaxy ESO 269-57 Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties (luminosity, density, temperature, and chemical composition) of celestial objects such as stars, galaxies, and the interstellar medium, as well as their interactions. ... Cornell redirects here. ... The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poiesis, making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ... A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. ... A giant Hubble mosaic of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant. ... Harvard redirects here. ... The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Bowdoin College is a private liberal arts college, founded in 1794, located in the coastal New England town of Brunswick, Maine. ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private, coeducational research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...

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. Smithsonian is a monthly magazine published by the Smithsonian Institution of the United States in Washington, DC External link Smithsonian webpage Categories: Smithsonian Institution | United States magazines | Stub ... The New Yorker is an American magazine that publishes reportage, criticism, essays, cartoons, poetry and fiction. ... The Atlantic redirects here; for the ocean, see Atlantic Ocean. ... The House of the Academy, Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Discover is a science magazine that publishes articles about science for a general audience. ... Smoke billows at the exploratorium The Exploratorium is a public science museum located in the Marina District at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, California. ... Granta 37, published September 1991 Granta is a literary magazine which publishes new writing — fiction, personal history, reportage and investigative journalism — four times a year. ... An issue of Harpers Magazine from 1905 Another issue, from November 2004 Harpers Magazine (or simply Harpers) is a monthly general-interest magazine covering literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts from a progressive, moderate left perspective in a fashion often not found in the ordinary news... First title page, November 4, 1869 Nature is one of the oldest and most reputable scientific journals, first published on 4 November 1869. ... The New York Review of Books (or NYREV or NYRB) is a biweekly magazine on literature, culture, and current affairs published in New York which takes, as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity. ... The New York Times is a newspaper published in New York City by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. ... The Sciences was published from 1993 to 2000 by the New York Academy of Sciences. ... Technology Review is an innovation and technology magazine affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ...

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. Einsteins Dreams is a 1993 novel by Alan Lightman. ... Offical NPR logo National Public Radio (NPR) is an independent, private, non-profit membership organization of public radio stations in the United States. ... Talk of the Nation is a talk radio program based in the United States, produced by National Public Radio, and is broadcasted nationally on weekday afternoons (Eastern Standard Time). ...

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 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 for the spring of 2006, directed by Marjorie Samov. The City University of New York (CUNY; acronym: IPA pronunciation: ), is the public university system of New York City. ...

Bibliography

Books

• Lightman, A. P.; Press, W. H.; Price, R. H. and Teulkolsky, S. A. (1979). Problem Book in Relativity and Gravitation. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780691081625. 
• A Modern Day Yankee in a Connecticut Court, 1986, ISBN 0-670-81239-0
• Origins, 1990, ISBN 0-674-64470-0
• Ancient Light, 1991, ISBN 0-674-03362-0
• Time for the Stars, 1992, ISBN 0-670-83976-0
• Lightman, Alan P. (1993). Einstein's Dreams. New York: Pantheon. ISBN 0-679-41646-3. 
• Lightman, Alan P. (1994). Good Benito. New York: Pantheon. ISBN 0-679-43614-6. 
• Lightman, Alan P. (1996). Dance for Two: Selected Essays. New York: Pantheon. ISBN 0-679-75877-1. 
• Great Ideas in Physics, 3nd ed. - New York : McGraw-Hill, 1997, ISBN 0-07-038048-1
• The Diagnosis, New York : Pantheon Books, 2000, ISBN 0-375-72550-4
• 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
• Reunion, New York : Pantheon Books, 2003, ISBN 0-375-42167-X
• The Discoveries, 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

Essays 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Media:rofl. ...

• "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

External links

• Lightman's Website at MIT
• Interview
• Online audio interview with NPR
• Review of Einstein's Dreams
• Comparison of Lightman and Milan Kundera