On October 15th, I got to have one of my unabashedly nerdy and science-loving dreams come true: I got to meet Lawrence Krauss. For those who don’t know, Lawrence Krauss is a theoretical physicist who touches on topics in many relevant areas of science including elementary particle physics, cosmology, the early universe, dark matter, general relativity and neutrino astrophysics. So, you know, the easy stuff.
If you’d like to know more, because he has done a lot, you can check out his bio at Arizona State where he serves as Director of the Origins Project and Foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and Physics Department.
First, I have to thank my good friends and fellow science-enthusiasts Rick and Erin Urschel and Urschel Laboratories who sponsored Krauss’s visit to Purdue Northwest’s Westville campus and without whom this event would not have been possible. More to the point, my attendance and special experience would not have been possible.
My wife, Natalie, and I had been looking forward to this event for some time and were told we were getting VIP access, so of course we got dressed up. I wore my appropriately professorial looking suit jacket complete with elbow patches, which I hoped would grant me a few IQ points so I didn’t just stand there and drool at him.
Getting to the event, where we were allowed into a VIP reception room, I realized I was suddenly a ball of nerves. We were informed that his plane was running late from Pennsylvania due to mechanical issues and weren’t sure when he might be arriving. Holding conversations with friends who were present was difficult as I kept looking towards the door thinking he had arrived while simultaneously trying to think of something intelligent to say or ask.
When he did finally arrive, he graciously spent his time, up to almost the last minute before the show, chatting with attendees, signing books, and taking pictures. He came over to our group first and talked with us for a bit about the flight and where we were from and our names, which to his credit he remembered after meeting the dozens of people who were there. He was, of course, donning his stylish galaxy-themed sneakers for added authenticity.
We had two books for him to sign, his current book The Greatest Story Ever Told – So Far and his previous book, A Universe From Nothing. If you’ve ever read his books, they are incredibly interesting and deal with everything from particle physics to the size and manner of end the universe will have. They are also the sort of books that you feel you probably need to read an additional time or two to really grasp. That’s not to say he isn’t explaining things well enough – he is – but the subjects themselves are challenging enough that they can sometimes be almost too complex to get your head around in one read through. You can simplify them, but only so much.
At any rate, I told him why the special significance of A Universe From Nothing, as it happened to be the book I was reading when my daughter, Elianna, was born in 2013. Some days and nights I would read it aloud to her as she dozed off, even though I can’t understand what newborn could fall asleep to a book that describes particle physics so interestingly, and the spontaneous appearance and disappearance of said particles. But for at least a few weeks that was Ellie’s naptime book.
Now, she’s four and recently learned about black holes in her Montessori class, kids these days, right? This of course led to her asking me now and then whether there are any black holes nearby to, “suck up the Earth.” I have reassured her a few times that our solar system is alright, but I thought having reassurance from a physicist and cosmologist would be more reassuring.
When Krauss signed the book, he signed, “To Ellie: Don’t worry. No black holes nearby! Now, go to sleep!”
It was fantastic. Anything that can get kids a little closer to the coolest things in science and get them motivated and interested is great. Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson both had early experience with the great astronomer, Carl Sagan, when they were younger that helped to motivate them. So, having a well-known public educator of science sign a message to my daughter is more meaningful than anything he could write to me.
Though he did sign this on his newest book, “To Natalie & Peter: One Canadian out of 2, Not bad!!” in reference to my wife and his shared Canadian heritage.
The talk commenced with far more hilarity than I expected, as Rick Urschel, always a man of good humor, joked that they tried to get Neil deGrasse Tyson, but weren’t able, so they settled on Krauss. Krauss then rushed the stage, which caused Rick to hide behind the podium as he remembered that Krauss had mentioned earlier to our group that he was a wrestler in high school. Fortunately for Rick, the scientist was just heading to his laptop to include an image of Tyson for comedic effect later.
The talk itself covered a long span of time which started with Plato’s allegory of the cave as an example of people not knowing the true nature of reality because of their limited vision. It moved from there to the unification of electro-magnetism, as well as space and time as two sides of the same coin. Also touched on were superconductivity and the Higgs Field, which permeates all of space and gives matter its mass. Due to an accident of our circumstances, this strange field froze into existence and fills empty space, particles that interact with the Higgs Field act like they’re very heavy even though they are weightless. This is still something that is insane to think about, but without it, we would not exist. Don’t worry, Krauss ensured us that the Higgs Field is here to stay for a t least the next few billion years.
Krauss also talked about Gauge Symmetry, which implies laws don’t change if all positive particles become negative and vice versa. He used the example of the universe as a chess board, if you changed all the white squares to black and vice versa it would remain the same.
Another example Krauss used was that of an ice crystal to show why our position in the universe is not something that was fated to be. If we were situated on one small tendril of that ice crystal, we might think our position was privileged, but we are not seeing the larger picture. We happen to live in a universe in which it is possible for us to exist, but there are potentially many universes in which the laws of physics froze into a much different dynamic after the Big Bang.
“Although his presentation was very technical, his message about science education is important in the world we live in today. I was happily surprised with his down to earth personality and he was also much shorter than I had expected,” said Rick Urschel of the event.
One woman who has been going to the Sinai Forum for decades also said Krauss was without a doubt the best speaker she had ever heard, which is high praise for an event that brings in so many excellent speakers.
“For not having a physics background, it says a lot that I was able to understand the concepts Dr. Krauss proposed. His enthusiasm for science and specifically the universe inspires even the most cynical to look beyond ours issues and see how lucky we really are to be here,” said my darling wife, Natalie Krivas.
There is no way I will do his talk justice or summarize it with as much interest as Dr. Krauss can engender, so please, go read his book. Or listen to the audio book. Or watch a talk of his. We’ve only got so much time on this Earth, and learning about the nature of the universe we find ourselves in is about as cool and mind-blowing as it gets.
I will just leave you with his parting words and a quote he shared, which encourage us to never stop questioning and never stop pursuing the Greatest Story Ever Told – So Far:
“The greatest story ever told so far gets better, because every day it gets better when we make new discoveries. Young people who are in this audience will make discoveries that make the story better. But, it will only get better if we continue to ask questions. I’m going to end with that sober thought that I’m beginning to worry we’ve stopped. The things that really matter, what makes science beautiful, is not this technology, the technology is great, but it’s the questions. The questions: Why are we here? Where are we going? These fundamental questions that drive humans, that are so interesting,” said Krauss.
I would also like to leave this quote that Krauss shared from the physicist Robert Wilson who worked on the Manhattan Project and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. When asked in a congressional hearing if the accelerator would add to the national defense, this was Wilson’s response:
“It only has to do with the respect with which we regard one another, the dignity of men, our love of culture… It has to do with are we good painters, good sculptors, great poets? I mean all the things we really venerate in our country and are patriotic about… It has nothing to do directly with defending our country except to make it worth defending.”
That is what science is. The journey of discovery that may yield untold marvels or technology, but which should be pursued for its own sake. Thank you, Dr. Krauss, The Urschel Family, and Purdue Northwest for allowing me and everyone in the audience to have this experience.
