Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A cosmologist best known as one of the originators of cold dark matter theory.
On the island
Eight records
Queen of the Night Aria (from The Magic Flute)Favourite
Anna Shyminska, Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Cornelius Meister
My first piece of music is part of the Magic Flute, which is my favorite opera. And it's an area, the Queen of the Night, where you see the whole power of opera, you see the drama, you see the tension, you see the wonderful melody, and you see the challenge that this particular area poses to the soprano.
I was born in Mexico, and the quintessential type of Mexican music is called mariachi music, and it captures the essence of the Mexican soul. The song I've chosen is called El son de la Negra... And it's about a man who says to a dark-skinned woman, Say yes to everyone, just don't tell them when. ... it just happens that my dad who is a German émigré wants this piece of music played in his funeral.
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 (second movement)
This three is piano concerto number 20 by Mozart, and that is a piece of music that is possibly the one closest to my heart because that's the concerto that my mother played with an orchestra in Mexico when she was 17. And that same piano concerto was played 50 years later by my sister Tere, who's a concert pianist, with a Mexican orchestra as well.
The Beatles were a crucial musical influence during my teenage years. ... Eleanor Rigby is about loneliness and death. It was a true turning point in the development of music.
This is Gracias a la Vida, which means Thanks to Life, written by a Chilean composer called Violeta Parra. ... Violeta Parra thanks life for all the gifts life has given her. ... There is a tragic side to this song because Violeta Parra, a few months after writing this ode to life, she, aged 49, took her own life.
Triple Concerto in C major, Op. 56 (third movement)
Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Barenboim, Itzhak Perlman, Berlin Philharmonic
My sixth piece of music is one that really dominated my late teens and early 20s. It's Beethoven's triple concerto. ... I like the whole structure of this concerto where there are three instruments that are competing with one another. ... it reflected my feelings as a teenager of insecurity, of inner conflict. ... what I like is the optimism of this piece, the fact that these conflicts are eventually resolved in a peaceful and happy way.
Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 'Scottish' (second movement)
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Joseph Swenson
My seventh piece of music is a symphony by Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn is somebody I identify very much with. Like my father, he was born in Hamburg. Like my family, he experienced anti-Semitism. Like my grandfather, he was baptized, even though he was Jewish, and like me, he was an Anglophile. And that's why I've chosen the Scottish Symphony. Scotland is a country very close to my heart, because Scotland's given me the greatest gift I've ever had, my wife Susan.
Melody (from Album für die Jugend, Op. 68)
My eighth choice is a very simple piece that Robert Schumann wrote for his three daughters. And it's very close to my heart because I had two sons, both of whom are very gifted musicians. ... David played this piece for the BBC program 20 years ago called the Stephen Hawking Universe.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:16How would you describe to us the magic of what you see?
Look out at the universe, we see this wondrous architecture that has emerged from what we know was a very simple beginning, the Big Bang, and trying to understand that transition between the early simplicity of our universe and the beautiful complexity of today's universe, which of course has not only galaxies, it has stars, planets and people, is what cosmologists spend their time doing.
Presenter asks
2:45What is involved in computational cosmology, and how much patience does it take?
Cosmology is a unique science because unlike, say, biology or chemistry or the rest of physics, we cannot do experiments. There's no way we can travel to a star and take its temperature or go to a galaxy and weigh it. So what we do is relatively simple. We know the laws of physics. So, what we do is we program the computer to solve the equations of physics. Computers are very good at that. And then, the other ingredient that we need is to tell the computer what we call the initial conditions. Once you know the beginning state, then the computer just chucks away solving equations. But, of course, before that, there are often many years of writing the computer codes, of coaxing the computer to debug it. Then, you program it all and you wait several months, perhaps a year, no more than a year, really, because our patience is limited.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
Complete Works of Jorge Luis Borges (including poetry)
Jorge Luis Borges
It's so complex. It has layer upon layer upon layer of meaning. So you can read it time and time again, and every time it would be like reading it again.
The luxury
My luxury at first sight will not be that original. I'm sure other people have wanted to bring a telescope. But my telescope is a real luxury because it's not just a telescope. It has a dome. ... At night, I will look at the stars and try to wonder how the universe came to be.
How did your father end up in Mexico after fleeing persecution in Germany?
Well, my father, he's 94 years old and he's retired actually after 70 years working as a doctor. He emigrated age seven with his mother, father, and sister. They were originally going to Canada. But the story that my grandmother tells is that she went to a bookshop to buy a guide to Canada. She had already their boat tickets for Canada and had a collision with a very charming lady who turned out to be Mexican and convinced her and then took her to the embassy where she worked that Mexico was a much warmer and hospitable place than Canada. And just in the last minute, they changed their mind and ended up in Mexico. And I was born as a Mexican.
Presenter asks
16:36You started studying engineering but it didn't work out. What did you end up studying?
Physics. The engineering professors told me, You're a misfit here. Go and study physics. You ask the wrong questions. You want to know why? We can only tell you how. And it was like a rebirth for me because that was where I belonged. That's the air I wanted to breathe. To me, it was just a revelation because of the intrinsic beauty of the laws of nature and the logic of it all and the power of science. The fact that we can use physics to understand how nature works.
Presenter asks
23:43What's the biggest thing you've got wrong in your work?
Well, when we started, my colleagues and I trying to replicate humbly the creation of the universe, we thought that the first thing to try would be to assume that the dark matter was made of elementary particles, but particles that at least we knew existed, these elusive particles called neutrinos, also known as hot dark matter. And we then programmed our computer to tell us what the universe would look like. And out came a failed universe. ... But perhaps the biggest failure was I clung to the idea that there was no such thing as dark energy. And unfortunately, astronomers went and found this dark energy that spoils the party. And I was forced to recant publicly at the end of a conference, stand up, and acknowledge that in technical terms the universe did not have a critical density, as we called it then. So that to me was the biggest shock of my life. It's the only time in my life where I've actually been kept awake at night thinking, how did the universe do this to me? What have we done?
Presenter asks
27:28You've said you believe in God, but not while you're working. Tell me more about that.
Well Yeah. I think uh one of the most uh amazing things I've discovered as a cosmologist. Is that um The very same laws of physics that govern phenomena here on earth For some reason these laws Apply not just in our laboratories here on Earth, but everywhere, at all times and at all places. And here is where God is to be found, in the universality, in the regularity of a universe.
“Look out at the universe, we see this wondrous architecture that has emerged from what we know was a very simple beginning, the Big Bang, and trying to understand that transition between the early simplicity of our universe and the beautiful complexity of today's universe, which of course has not only galaxies, it has stars, planets and people, is what cosmologists spend their time doing.”
“Cosmology is not for the depressive. It would be very difficult to be depressed when you witness the wonders of the universe.”
“God was a physicist. I don't see how the order of the universe can be explained intrinsically within the universe itself.”
“I tell them that they should not listen to what I say, that they should not do what I tell them, that they should rebel, because I am now a member of the establishment and progress will come by killing off the establishment.”