Sean Carroll: This Is The Year, Physics is the Word
Article by Rebecca Romani
The new year has barely begun and Sean Carroll is EXCITED. Very, in fact.
“The 21st Century is an exciting time to follow Physics!”
Cue the enthusiastic crowd.
Sean Carroll is on fire.
Sean Carroll, a Physicist from Caltech, has gone through the wormhole with Morgan Freeman and hung out with Stephen Colbert.
Even Sheldon on the “Big Bang Theory” has made fun of him.
Not to mention winning major awards, doing original research on Black Holes, writing a few books that were popular sellers and a stunning stint on TedX.
And Carroll is loved in San Diego.
REALLY loved.
So loved, he can fill the Reuben H Fleet Science Center Heikoff Giant Dome Theater with enthusiastic, eager…for lack of a better word…groupies of all ages who line up to hear about Physics and Time, subjects that, should someone else present them, would cause eyes to glaze over en masse.
But Carroll is one of those rare scientists who bring wit, wonder and a hint of mystery to the workings of the universe, a subject that Carroll says has captivated him ever since he discovered the sky as a child.
Carroll, who received his Ph.D in 1993 from Harvard, is best known in the scientific world for his work in fundamental physics and cosmology, most notably dark matter. Non-scientists know him from NOVA and Carroll has frequently consulted on films and TV.
Carroll was recently in San Diego to receive the prestigious Andrew Gemant Award from The American Institute of Physics (AIP). The prize recognizes significant contributions to the cultural, artistic or humanistic dimension of physics. As part of the prize, Carroll gave a talk on “The Origin of the Universe and the Arrow of Time” to what appeared to be a very enthusiastic, very full house.
And one could see why Carroll is such an appreciated speaker.
Carroll’s engaging presence and smart, well-illustrated presentation, pulsing and changing on the curved dome of the geode-shaped theater, kept listeners enthralled with titles such as an “honest history of the universe” and easily understood explanations of why the Big Bang might actually be a series of bangs that brought the universe into being. Not one to talk down to the audience, Carroll’s combination of rolling visuals and casual definitions clarified both basic physics concepts and recent discoveries such as the Higgs Boson, otherwise know as the “God particle.”
Carroll also laid out why time is obliged to go forward as an arrow (“you can’t turn an omelet back into an egg…” ) and why the concept of entropy might well be one of the most profound challenges of modern cosmology.
At the end of his talk, Carroll paused to give some of the future scientists in the theater a little advice: “get involved, don’t wait for research to come to you.”
And with that, Carroll reminded them that time flows forward and that the mysteries of the world, in the words of “Up,” “are out there!”
