From the DEC/JAN 2006 issue of Seed:
LISA RANDALL
Theoretical Physicist/Author
Lisa Randall is currently among the most-cited theoretical physicist in the world, with two of her scientific papers among the five most influential theoretical works of the past 10 years. She is the first female theoretician to receive tenure at MIT and at Harvard, where she currently works, as well as the first woman to be tenured in physics at Princeton. Atop this list of accomplishments is a new book detailing the 20th century’s most fascinating concepts in physics.
The 43-year-old native of Queens, NY, has published widely on fundamental problems of the universe, often using simple yet elegant approaches that have eluded other physicists in their search for answers. She has the rare distinction, along with her coauthor Raman Sundrum of Johns Hopkins University, of having founded a new vein of research: the brane-world scenarios. At the heart of this work is the idea that the observable universe is merely a three-dimensional membrane-like object—called a brane—residing in a larger extra-dimensional space. It was a concept so novel, she says, that “we were a little afraid we were presenting something that not only defeated conventional wisdom, but also showed that we were crazy.”
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Randall’s work was largely out of the public’s earshot until the fall, when she published her first popular science book, Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions. Complete with pop lyrics, thoughtfully crafted metaphors and a string of fictional vignettes that illustrate difficult physical concepts, Randall has written an accessible account from the leading edge of physics. Through her writing, she hopes to motivate a new generation of scientists and to contribute a female voice to the popular discourse on physics: “I thought it was important that the world, and young people in particular, know that not everyone doing physics is male, which you wouldn’t necessarily deduce from the popular literature.” In 2005, she also lent her voice to the Task Force on Women in Science and Engineering, created by Harvard President Larry Summers in the wake of his comments on gender differences in the sciences.
Despite her remarkable ability to illuminate the complex phenomena at play in the universe, it is clearly the act of tackling the big questions in physics—the problem of the cosmological constant; the idea of extra dimensions—that Randall most relishes. “The most enjoyable part is when you lose yourself in a problem, particularly those moments when ideas suddenly click and you know you’ve really made some advance in understanding.”
-- Joshua Roebke
ANETTE ASP
Coolhunter/Design Enthusiast
&
STEVEN QUARTZ
Philosopher/Neuroscientist
Steven Quartz and Anette Asp are not your typical coolhunters. Rather than trend-spotting along city streets, the Los Angeles-based team is probing the concept of “cool” at Caltech’s Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory. By understanding cool, they’re hoping to eventually combine cognitive science and product design.
In 2005, Asp and Quartz’s project, Coolscan, was linked to neuromarketing by news media attracted to its headline appeal. However, the team believes that an understanding of cool can also explain our needs and desires, telling us something about what it means to be human. ”The needs [that] a consumer society instills in us are not artificial. Consumerism is about our social needs, which are deep-rooted,” says Steven Quartz, 42, who teaches neuroscience and philosophy at the West Coast institution.