HENRY KING STANFORD DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR 
IN THE HUMANITIES

 Wednesday, March 28, 2012 7:00 p.m.

At the Crossroads of Art & Science:
The Physicist as Novelist

PLEASE NOTE: VENUE CHANGE

Storer Auditorium

UM School of Business Administration
5250 University Drive

Admission Free of Charge 
Seating is limited.

 ‌ 

"By turns whimsical and meditative, playful and provocative, Einstein's Dreams pulls the reader into a dream world like a powerful magnet."–Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

As both a distinguished physicist and an accomplished novelist, Alan Lightman was the first professor at MIT to receive a joint appointment in the sciences and the humanities. His essay "In the Name of Love?" about love and language was published in Nature (October 8, 2001), and his "The First Law of Thermodynamics" was the first short story published in Physics Today (May 2005). He has lectured at more than 100 universities. Lightman's essays, short fiction, and reviews have appeared in, among others, The American Scholar, The Atlantic Monthly, Daedalus, Discover, Granta, Harper's, Nature, New Yorker, New York Review of Books, New York Times, and Smithsonian.

Lightman's novel Einstein's Dreams (1993) was an international bestseller and has been translated into thirty languages; it has been adopted at numerous colleges and universities for "common-book" programs, and has been the basis of more than two dozen independent theatrical and musical productions.

The Diagnosis, was a finalist for the 2000 National Book Award in fiction and Reunion (2003) was a Washington Post bestseller; both were Barnes and Noble national college bestsellers. His most recent book, The Discoveries: Great Breakthroughs in 20th Century Science, was named by Discover Magazine as one of the ten best books on science in 2005.

"a dazzling first novel . . . Lightman is exploring fiction's deep space, taking us further than we are used to being taken. It is playful, poignant, intimate . . . cool, languid, intelligent, and quotable." -- The Sunday Times (London)