Brian Greene is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, and is recognised for a number of groundbreaking discoveries in his field of superstring theory. As part of our SFI speaker series, Greene will be hosted for a discussion with Science Gallery Director Michael John Gorman on the role of wonder and mystery in Science.
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." - Albert Einstein
Following announcements that Carl Sagan's COSMOS is due for a remake, there is a heightened awareness of the role that a sense of wonder plays in science.
Greene's books often deal with this theme, and are widely read: The Elegant Universe was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and has sold more than a million copies worldwide; The Fabric of the Cosmos spent half a year on The New York Times bestseller list, and inspired The Washington Post to call him the “single best explainer of abstruse ideas in the world today.”
He also authored the novella Icarus at the Edge of Time, which was adapted into an orchestral piece by Philip Glass, and will be performed t the National Concert Hall during Dublin City of Science. Book tickets for this performance here.
His latest book, The Hidden Reality debuted at #4 on The New York Times bestseller list.
Greene has had many media appearances, from Charlie Rose to David Letterman, and his three-part NOVA special based on The Elegant Universe won an Emmy Award and a Peabody Award.
A recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship and a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, Greene is co-director of Columbia’s Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics (ISCAP), and is leading a research program applying superstring theory to cosmological questions. With producer Tracy Day, he is the co-founder of the World Science Festival, which featured Science Gallery’s exhibition BIORHYTHM in 2011, and SURFACE TENSION in 2012.
