They seemed hesitant to talk at first, the English and physics students who gathered together for a shared class Wednesday morning. But it didn’t take long for guest lecturer Alan Lightman to kindle a conversation in the nervous silence.
“Books enlighten us about human nature, just like Einstein’s theory of relativity enlightens us about the universe,” he said.
Lightman is the author of the international best-seller “Einstein’s Dreams” and “The Diagnosis,” a National Book Award finalist. He also is a noted physicist.
Both Lightman and the students acknowledged that science and art, in this case literature, take two different approaches to studying the world. Physics is quantitative in its search for answers, while literature is more qualitative.
Still, they seemed to agree that each method has value.
“Both ways you can look at the world around you,” said Alex Handin ’10. “You can learn something about the world through physics, but you can also learn something about the world through literature.”
"When you've written a good novel, it's like you've created a natural resource that continues to feed a lot of people," Lightman said.
Citing some of his favorite authors (Primo Levy, Rachel Carson, Italo Calvino), he touched on the craft of writing fiction, including techniques on creatively embedding scientific or technical information in a narrative.
The students, from Bernhard Kuhn’s class on autobiography and Gary Reich’s course in modern physics, also heard Lightman’s thoughts on the role of neuroscience in understanding human nature.
"I am strongly in favor of the sciences exploring everything in the world that can be explored,” he said. “The more we learn, the better. There is no danger of the neurosciences supplanting literature, sociology or psychology.
“In the end, if the artist and scientist have done something that is deep and true, it will blossom and touch other people, even if their interpretations are different.”
On Tuesday evening, Lightman gave a public lecture on “The Novelist as Physicist” to a full crowd in the Nott Memorial. There, he exhorted the students in the audience to seek their passion.
Lightman teaches creative writing at MIT, where he has worked as a physicist. In 1989, he was the first professor there to receive a joint appointment in science and the humanities.
A noted humanitarian, he founded the nonprofit Harpswell Foundation a decade ago to empower disadvantaged young people, particularly women, in developing countries through housing, education and leadership training. Next year, Ned Lincoln ’09 will work with the foundation in Cambodia as a Minerva Fellow.
Lightman is the father of Kara Lightman ’09, an interdepartmental major in anthropology and political science. On Wednesday, May 6, from 5 to 7 p.m., Lightman will detail her own humanitarian work in Cambodia in the Multicultural Lounge in Reamer Campus Center.
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