Alan Lightman on Muck Rack

Alan Lightman

  • American Physicist and Writer
As seen in: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Washington Post Opinions, Yahoo Canada, Goodreads, PBS, TED, TED Ideas Blog, The Atlantic, Scientific American and
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Articles

Alan Lightman on his childhood in science

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By Alan Lightman
| Scientific American
In late 1957, around my ninth birthday, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite, called Sputnik. I became entranced with the idea of building a rocket of my own. I imagined the lift-off, the graceful arc of the craft as it careened through space. By the age of 13 or 14 I had started mixing my own rocket fuels. A fuel that burned too fast would explode like a bomb; a fuel that burned too slow would smolder like a barbecue grill.
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The Ordinary Miracle of Existing

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By Alan Lightman
| The Atlantic
On the northwestern shore of Africa, some 150 miles south of the Canary Islands, the coastline slightly bulges in a pimple known as Cape Bojador. For Europeans in the early 15th century, Cape Bojador marked the boundary between the known and the unknown. North of the cape was civilization and the cities of light.
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In praise of wasting time

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By Alan Lightman
| Harpswell Anchor
During my summers in Maine, I try to take a break from the frantic pace of my normal life. I rarely look at my watch. If I need to follow the flow of the hours, the rhythm of the tides is plenty good enough for me. One summer several years ago, after a pleasant day kayaking in Quahog Bay, I decided to measure the passage of time in the late afternoon by the shift in light on the wall opposite a west-facing window.
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