Alan Lightman

American physicist, science writer, essayist, novelist · United States · On the map · Scientists · Born 1948 · age 77

Alan Paige Lightman is an American physicist, writer, and social entrepreneur. He has served on the faculties of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is currently a professor of the practice of the humanities at MIT. He is a contributing writer for The Atlantic magazine.

Alan Lightman is read about 77 times a day, in 17 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 10 July 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.

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Alan Lightman

3 statements, newest first

In the 1950s, academics forecast that as a result of new technology, by the year 2000 we could have a twenty-hour workweek.
2000 · A Sense of the Mysterious : Science and the Human Spirit (2005), p. 200, Own words
The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or of joy.
1993 · Einstein's Dreams (1993), p. 49, Own words
The relationship between science and the humanities is two-way. Science changes our view of the world and our place in it.
Great Ideas in Physics : The Conservation of Energy, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the Theory of Relativity, and Quantum Mechanics, Own words