Creative Lives and Works

Dirac’s equation written by Neil Turok and Antony Hewish’s signature on the blackboard in Alan Macfarlane’s room, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge. Photograph courtesy Alan Macfarlane. Creative Lives and Works: Antony Hewish, Martin Rees and Neil Turok is a collection of interviews conducted by one of England’s leading social anthropologists and historians, Professor Alan Macfarlane. Filmed over a period of 40 years, the three conversations in this volume, are part of a larger set of interviews that cut across various disciplines, from the social sciences, the sciences and to even the performing and visual arts. The current volume on three of England’s foremost astrophysicists-cosmologists is the fourth in the series of several such books. Antony Hewish, who won the Nobel Prize in 1974, in the foreword to Questions of Truth writes, ‘The ghostly presence of virtual particles defies rational common sense and is non-intuitive for those unacquainted with physics.... But when the most elementary physical things behave in this way, we should be prepared to accept that the deepest aspects of our existence go beyond our common-sense understanding’. Sir Martin Rees eloquently puts forward the problems and challenges of the 21st century, in relation to science, ethics and politics. Like Hewish and Rees, Neil Turok also piques the layman’s interest in the mysteries of the cosmic world. Immensely riveting as conversations, this collection takes one into the world of boundless discoveries hidden among the blue skies. The book will be of enormous value not just to those interested in Astronomy and Cosmology as well as the History of Science, but also to those with an inquisitive mind.

Alan Macfarlane was born in Shillong, India, in 1941 and educated at the Dragon School, Sedbergh School, Oxford and London Universities where he received two Master’s degrees and two doctorates. He is the author of over forty books, including The Origins of English Individualism (1978) and Letters to Lily: On How the World Works (2005). He has worked in England, Nepal, Japan and China as both an historian and anthropologist. He was elected to the British Academy in 1986 and is now Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and a Life Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. Professor Macfarlane received the Huxley Memorial Medal, the highest honour of the Royal Anthropological Institute in 2012. Creative Lives and Works Antony Hewish, Martin Rees and Neil Turok

In conversation with ALAN MACFARLANE

Edited by Radha Béteille First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Social Science Press The right of Alan Macfarlane to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan or Bhutan) British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-76771-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-16847-8 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon Lt Std by Manmohan Kumar, New Delhi 110020 Contents

Preface vii Transcriber’s Note xiii Introduction xv

PART I Antony Hewish – In conversation with Alan Macfarlane 3

PART II Martin Rees – In conversation with Alan Macfarlane 47

PART III Neil Turok – In conversation with Alan Macfarlane 99 and Tina Kosir

Appendix 1: Biographical Information 160 Appendix 2: ScientificTerms and Equipment 211

Preface

When, in 2007, I started to interview astronomers I was aware that Cambridge had been important in the history of astronomy. I knew that astronomy had been one of the main parts of the medieval teaching syllabus in Cambridge. I knew that one of Isaac Newton’s major contributions was to understand more deeply the movement of the planets. I knew that in the 18th-century figures such as the Herschel family were important and that in the early 20th century Eddington had demonstrated the truth of Einstein’s theories and that later in the century Fred Hoyle had been a major figure in Cambridge. The three figures in this volume represent three moments in the breath-taking changes that occurred alongside dramatic improvements in astronomical technologies after the Second World War. They are, as the interviews show, only a tiny part of a complex network of figures in diverse fields who contributed to one of the most exciting theoretical fields of the second half of the 20th century. I have only met Antony Hewish once to talk to, when I did the interview, though I have seen him several times walking beside the river Cam. I was aware of his presence, however, from 1975 when I moved into a room allocated to the Department of Social Anthropology in the old Colloid Science building, which I was told that they had previously been occupied by the Department of Radio Astronomy, part of the Cavendish Laboratory, which had moved out a couple of years earlier to the New Cavendish site in West Cambridge. I was told that a Nobel Prize for the discovery of pulsars had been awarded in 1974 to Martin Ryle and Antony Hewish and that there had been some controversy over the work of the PhD student Jocelyn Bell who had been closely involved in the discovery. viii PREFACE

The room I was in for all my years in the Department from 1975–2009 was unusual in that it had a small, sound-proofed, room included. I was told that this is where Bell had worked on a noisy terminal which relayed the odd patterns which were first taken to be signals from extra-terrestrials, and later discovered to be a new species of star, pulsars. As I was working on a very early project on computer information retrieval, I was very aware of how new technologies, both the radio telescopes and new computing power, were essential for the advances in astronomy. So, when I broadened my interview series, I was particularly keen to interview Antony Hewish. I found him to be a modest, gentle, somewhat old-world academic. After the interview, it was a particular pleasure to be able to take him back (for the first time since he had left) to his old location in the department. There he stood in the famous Maxwell lecture hall where he and Ryle had announced their discovery. He came to my room and signed the blackboard in my room. The second interviewee is Martin Rees. Martin is someone I have known as a friend and colleague for nearly fifty years. I remember a moment when I was on the committee (Fellowship Electors) that elected new Fellows to King’s College. Cambridge, unlike Oxford where Professorships are tied to Colleges, is a university where new Professors can join any College that offers them a Fellowship. There is often a strong competition by the Colleges for particularly exciting Professors. We were told by one of the Committee that we absolutely must elect Martin. ‘He is the nearest we will ever get to another Newton’, or words to that effect, was what we were told. We succeeded and during the next years until he went to become Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Martin was a co-Fellow. So, I would meet him socially and at College committees. After he ended his Mastership at Trinity, he came back to a Fellowship at King’s and returned to the College. He married Professor Caroline Humphrey while at Trinity, a very close colleague and friend within the Department of Social Anthropology, which strengthened my links. PREFACE ix

I have long been deeply impressed and indeed in awe of Martin. He is a bird-like, acute, gentle and humble man, but with an extraordinary mind. I will just mention three examples of this. He was a few years ago head of a big Cambridge department, Astronomer Royal, President of the Royal Society, Master of Trinity College and a leading public intellectual on television and elsewhere. In a survey to find out who was the best networked scientist in the world – in other words, scientists were asked who they were closely in touch with Martin come out top in the world, with more strong contacts than anyone else. I assumed that someone with all these different calls on their time would be frantically busy. Yet whenever I met Martin, he seemed to have infinite time. He was in no rush and showed great interest in what I was doing. And if I emailed him, he would unfailingly reply courteously within hours. Incredible. Secondly, his range of knowledge is that of a genius. Professor Herbert Huppert, himself a very distinguished Professor of Theoretical Geophysics, told me about a special meeting of top scientists from around the world, in a dozen different fields to which Martin had contributed, to honour him. The building where it was held is arranged to allow people to move easily from room to room, so there were simultaneous panels in six to ten different fields where current cutting-edge research was discussed. Herbert said he had attended, or dipped into two or three of these where he could understand what was going on and asking questions, the other two-thirds were beyond him. Yet he had observed or overheard Martin joining in every single panel, where he contributed acute observations and questions. No one else in the world could have done this. A new Newton indeed, and a charming man who has, with three other scientists, been very supportive of this interview series. Finally, I found that not only did Martin think at the highest level about the whole universe, but also paid attention to the details and obviously had an excellent memory. He was so busy that I could only obtain an hour for the first interview with him, so we arranged for him to come back a few days later. He did so, and had taken x PREFACE care, and remembered, to wear exactly the same tie and clothes for continuity sake. The fact that there are two interviews explains some discontinuity in the contents. And it should be noted that his soft voice was part of the reason why, at a time when I had dispensed with lapel microphones and not yet obtained a rifle mike, that this particularly precious interview is unfortunately not easy to listen to. I met Neil Turok and interviewed him through an unlikely academic chance. I had visited Slovenia to launch one of my books there and met a very bright and charming young philosopher, Tina Kosir, who is now a lecturer in the department of Asian Studies at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Later, Tina wrote asking whether I planned to interview Neil Turok. I replied that I had never heard of him. She was somewhat shocked and said he was one of the most interesting minds in Cambridge – or the world – in theoretical physics and astronomy. This happens quite often in Cambridge, when you discover that great figures in their field are only a few hundred yards away, yet completely unknown to you. The interview series had made me acutely aware of this. I said I would be happy to arrange the setting for an interview with Neil, and the filming, but since I knew nothing of his work, perhaps Tina could come over to help interview him. She did this and the first interview is a sandwich. I did the introductory part on Neil’s education and family, then Tina interviewed him on his theoretical work, then I ended by asking about his work on African education. The interview was a delight since Neil is one of the most charming, enthusiastic, clear-minded and visionary interviewees I have encountered. He is also very socially engaged in education for disadvantaged people. It was a privilege to listen to him speculating on the origins and nature of the universe, battling with Stephen Hawking, and predicting the next line of new discoveries. Indeed, the interview was so exciting that when I heard Neil was back for a brief visit from Canada, where he had been made the director of a leading world centre in astronomy, I thought it would be exciting to interview him again. This is almost the only time I have ever done this and it proved as rewarding as I had hoped. Looking again at the interview I can see that although I knew far PREFACE xi less about the theoretical side than Tina, Neil was still able to treat me seriously and discuss his changing ideas at a high level. Hence, this is an unusually rich and important set of interviews. I have also just learnt that Neil has returned from Canada and the Perimeter Institute to take a Chair at Edinburgh University, so perhaps I will have a chance one day to do a third interview. The interviews in this book cover the eras of the 1940s to 1970s with Hewish, the 1960s to 1990s with Rees and the 1980s onwards with Turok.

Alan Macfarlane 11 August 2020

Transcriber’s Note

The transformation of videographed speeches into the written word has been a riveting experience. Transcriptions, while retaining the essence of a conversation, lend a new dimension to the oral transmission, opening them up to a wider readership, including those with diminished auditory functions. The intellectual discourses in the three transcripts on the revelations of science, in particular, astronomy and cosmology, draw in the reader as a participant. And, while offering a different order of internal cohesiveness, accentuates the ability of the reader to retain information, in this case, knowledge and scholarship. This collection of transcripts captures the engaging interactions between Alan Macfarlane, one of Britain’s foremost social anthropologists, and three eminent astrophysicists-cosmologists – Antony Hewish, Sir Martin Rees and Neil Turok. The enigma of the universe and the persistent efforts by astronomers and cosmologists at unravelling its mystique is eloquently articulated in these transcripts. Antony Hewish gives an insightful yet lucid account into the world of radio astronomy and the construction of telescopes, Sir Martin Rees explains in rather simple and cogent terms the varied applications of science in our everyday lives and its constant evolution, while Neil Turok through his lively conversation recounts the story of the universe and enunciates its complexities with great skill and charm. Here, it must however be noted that not being a subject expert has been somewhat limiting. Besides, I have had to acquaint myself with speech patterns, accents, diction and intonations in areas that I was unfamiliar with when I began. Furthermore, the transcribing of oral transmission leaves little room to represent facial expressions and non-verbalized sounds such xiv TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE as chuckles, laughs, sighs and for that matter exclamations, as well as pauses and idiosyncrasies in actual speech. Thus, I have taken the liberty to replace them with closely corresponding punctuations, so as not to alter the meaning or import of what is being said. Discrepancies in speech patterns have been isolated and addressed. Any misrepresentation of words and phrases, is entirely inadvertent. The trust and generosity of Professor Macfarlane in sharing his wealth of scholarship with Social Science Press cannot be adequately expressed in words.

– Radha Béteille 11 August 2020 Introduction Alan Macfarlane

There have been many autobiographical accounts of the creative process in science as well as in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Yet these tend to concentrate on one level, and within that one aspect, the cerebral, intellectual working of a single thinker’s mind. If we are to investigate further the connections between the levels of civilization, institution, network and individual, and the fifth dimension of chance or random variation, we need to supplement these accounts, in particular by letting scientists and others talk in a relaxed way about what they think has been important in their lives and works. Over the years I have been collecting such data and here I would like to describe how this happened and what opportunities it opens up for further understanding of the springs of creativity.

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There is a puzzle as to why I have spent so much time and effort (and expense) on interviewing (on film) a large number of academics and others over the years. No one else has done this as far as I am aware and it has few tangible rewards except the occasional gratitude of one’s colleagues. Why and how did this project build up over the years to a point where I now have about 250 lengthy interviews, almost all of them on the web? One factor is clearly my anthropological training and the experience of anthropological fieldwork. Although some social historians of the recent past began to become interested in oral history and the tape recording of memories from the late 1960s, for example xvi INTRODUCTION

Paul Thompson, Brian Harrison and others, on the whole historians deal with dead people who cannot be interviewed. Certainly, as a 17th century historian I was not interested in interviews. Anthropologists, on the other hand, deal with the living and the ‘life history’ or in-depth study of one or two ‘informants’ naturally leads into the use of recording devices – again usually tape recorders, but also sometimes film cameras, to record interviews. So, from my first fieldwork in 1968–70 in Nepal, I was aware of the potential of interviews. Alongside the interviews with intellectuals described below, I have made in-depth interviews with my anthropological subjects, in particular a ten-part interview with Dilmaya Gurung in 1992. I also taped and filmed members of my family talking about their lives, especially my grandmother in 1978. My interest in biographical details as a source of social history was also stimulated by the accident of moving through a number of different intellectual landscapes in my early years. My grandmother’s stories of Burma and India and then my mother’s vivid autobiographical writings in her letters and when she visited me from India were early influences which led to an interest in listening to older people talking about their lives. So, when I became an undergraduate and then a graduate at Oxford (1960–66) I spent some time listening to elderly academics, particularly my history tutor Lady Rosalind Clay with her deep immersion in the world of Oxford life through her father A.L. Smith (Master of Balliol), Sir Henry Clay, her husband and links to the Michison and Mitford families. She seemed to know personally many of the people whose books I was reading – Namier, Tawney, Trevelyan, Hill, Habakkuk, and she told me about their lives and personalities. I also began to hear about the folklore and gossip of historians from my other teachers – Harry Pitt, Keith Thomas and others. The world of the historians was brought into relief by being on the edge of another group of academics, the social anthropologists. As I did my D.Phil. on witchcraft I began to meet the older members of the distinguished school of anthropologists, the Lienhardts, John Beattie and above all E.E. Evans-Pritchard. This was a particularly intense and gossip-connected tribe and I heard INTRODUCTION xvii their stories of the great feuds and friendships and how they had survived their fieldwork. The interest in biography was also strengthened by my early apprenticeship in history at Oxford where I was taught how important it was to study not only the works but also the lives of great historians – Gibbon, Macaulay, de Tocqueville, Bede and others. This led me much later in my life to write detailed studies of other major figures in books on Montesquieu, Adam Smith, ee Tocqueville, Maitland, Fukuzawa and others which put a strong emphasis on the biography as well as the ideas. As a social historian I wanted to get inside the mentality as well as the social structure of the past. As an undergraduate I had discovered that letters (Pastons, Stonors) and diaries (Pepys, Kilvert) were wonderful sources for social history. So, my first book was a study of the life of one individual The Family Life of Ralph Josselin, based on the diary of a 17th century clergyman. Henceforth I collected letters, autobiographies, diaries, travellers’ journals and made a great deal of use of this biographical material in a number of my books. The early experience of eavesdropping on what appeared to be a disappearing world of a certain academic endeavour in the pre-War world of Oxford history and anthropology, was reinforced by moving to the London School of Economics (LSE) for two years, where giants of the post-Malinowski generation, Raymond Firth, Isaac Schapera, Lucy Mair, were on the point of retiring. Then when I moved to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) I met another group of giants from a previous age, particularly Adrian Mayer and Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf who became my supervisor. When I moved as a research fellow to Cambridge in 1971, I encountered again several oral worlds which intrigued me. There were a new set of older anthropologists, Meyer Fortes, Audrey Richards, G.I. Jones, Edmund Leach, S.J. Tambiah, Jack Goody among them. And there were a group set of historians, in particular Peter Laslett and Tony Wrigley. A third world was that of King’s College, where memories of the Bloomsbury era lingered on with Dadie Rylands, Peter Avery, Christopher Morris, Richard Braithwaite and others. xviii INTRODUCTION

With six or seven sets of oral history washing through my life by the age of thirty it would have been a rather insensitive and myopic young scholar who did not realize that he was experiencing something special and perhaps something that should be recorded for posterity. I did not want to write a conventional history of academic disciplines, yet I had a sense that there were webs of ideas and connections which were carried by elderly individuals which should be recorded. They should be treated with the same respect and desire to save and document as was accorded to small oral cultures around the world whose myths, legends, rituals and folklore was carefully recorded by anthropologists. It was perhaps a jumble of such motives, combined with friendship with the Director of the Cambridge University Audio- Visual Unit, Martin Gienke, which led to the first experiment to record academics on film. I had been asked to organize a series of seminars in history and anthropology in 1976–77 for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and this I knew would be a chance to gather together some of the leading thinkers in both fields. If they were coming for several days to Cambridge, might it not be an idea to film them, both as an archive for future generations and to show to students and colleagues who could not come to the meetings? So, I organized the seminars and two were filmed. Amongst those attending were many younger scholars who would become well known – Maurice Bloch, Raphael Samuel, Keith Thomas, Keith Hopkins, Peter Burke, and a number of more senior figures in their prime such as E.P. Thompson, Edmund Leach, Maurice Godelier, Jack Goody, Arnoldo Momiliagno and Ernest Gellner. I had assumed that this experiment, which is up on the web would be repeated by others as the technology became better. Yet, to my knowledge, it has hardly ever been duplicated. One of the few instances when something similar was done was again an idea I had. When making a six-part series for Channel 4 on the history of the world over the last 10,000 years, we assembled five leading historians and they talked for two days about various aspects of the past. The whole was filmed and is also up on the web. INTRODUCTION xix

The next step was probably influenced by this early filming attempt. Jack Goody had been involved in the filmed seminar and five years later, with the help of the Cambridge linguist Stephen Levinson, he arranged three seminars where Meyer Fortes, Audrey Richards and M.N. Srinivas would be filmed talking about their lives and work. Jack Goody then retired, but continued to take an interest in the project and interviewed several others for me, including John Barnes and Jean La Fontaine. In 1982 a portable video camera which took low-band U-matic was available and so I founded the Rivers Video Project with several of my PhD students, to experiment with the use of film in teaching and research in anthropology. Among the early projects were several biographical and archival films, including a film of Brian Hodgson and a long interview in June 1983 of my supervisor Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf. The group also filmed my undergraduate lectures and some of the students made a film as part of their course on T.R. Malthus. Now that I had started to film interviews, I could see the way in which my early interest in the gossip and interconnections of what was in effect a small tribe of British social anthropologists could be turned into a permanent record. The first interviews tended to be done by someone who knew the subject well – Goody in the cases above, Jean La Fontaine interviewing Lucy Mair, Caroline Humphrey interviewing Owen Lattimore. But gradually this faded away and I did nearly all the interviews and all the filming. About ten of the interviews were however done by friends and colleagues abroad and sent to me. At first the focus was almost exclusively on anthropologists – with some sociologists who were also anthropologists such as André Béteille, John Barnes, Ronald Dore. Later it was extended to others in the general area of social sciences, more sociologists and some historians. The filming continued to be done for the next 10 or 15 years on low-band U-matic and the tapes were stored away. It was not easy or necessary to edit them, but nor was it easy to show them, xx INTRODUCTION so very few were ever shown to students or colleagues. I looked at the collection as an archival collection, a time capsule of a vanishing world, which might be interesting in a hundred years time. That was assuming that it would be possible to play them. Already twenty years after they were made the tapes of the ESCR seminars were unplayable in Cambridge and had to be saved by the National Film Council. Then a set of interconnected technological changes occurred which affected many of my projects. The internet and high-speed broadband made it possible to send films across the world. Large external hard discs and new compression techniques made it possible to store and edit the films. The arrival of a digital repository in Cambridge in 2004 made it possible to put up the interviews we had done until that date in June of that year, an idea first suggested by Mark Turin. This development, which meant that the material could be appreciated by many more people, and the arrival of better cameras for the filming, meant that I began to increase the number of my interviews. By 2004 I had done about 30 interviews, by 2006 there were about 70 interviews and lectures. I described my project in relation to the arts, humanities and social sciences to some colleagues in King’s College. The scientists Patrick Bateson and Herbert Huppert were excited by the idea and asked whether I could extend the filming to cover the natural and physical sciences. I was surprised that very few people or organizations appeared to be doing the in-depth ‘lives and works’ kind of interviews I had undertaken for the immensely larger fields of the sciences. (Two sites which did have interviews on were that at globetrotter.berkeley and the Vega project at Sussex initiated by Harry Kroto). I was also hesitant about my ability to interview in fields about which I knew nothing. But they urged me to try and introduced me to a number of distinguished scientists. Shortly afterwards Gabriel Horn became an active advisor on the project as well. I started gingerly with the scientists, filming Dan McKenzie with whom I shared a room in King’s, the co-discoverer of tectonic plates and continental drift. It went well and I greatly enjoyed it. Pat INTRODUCTION xxi

Bateson then interviewed Gabriel Horn and I filmed another session with them talking about their partnership, and I interviewed Pat Bateson himself. So, I was now sufficiently confident to interview other scientists. Having broadened it beyond arts and social sciences, there was all the world which lay between, such as economics, psychology, philosophy and so on. There were also other interesting people I wanted to film – the Vice Chancellor Alison Richard, the ex-Cabinet Secretary Richard Wilson, the musician John Rutter, the sculptor Anthony Gormley. In fact, the series broadened out not only into politicians and civil servants, but into many other fields. There are interviews on the performing and visual arts, crafts and skills (pottery, gardening, sculpture), law, journalism, literary criticism, business, exploration, publishing, the military, filmmaking, classics, archaeology, architecture and linguistics. Whenever I heard of or met someone who seemed to have made a creative contribution to the world, whether they were a road sweeper or a College butler, up to some of the most distinguished thinkers in the world, I would try to interview them. It is a wide spread. So, from May 2007 when the first scientists were filmed, until September 2009 when I formally retired as Professor, I filmed something like another 80 interviews and the total now stands at about 250 films. As far as I know this archive is unique and as a number of the major figures are dead and others are getting very old, so the interviewing cannot now be done. There are some small projects, sometimes influenced by our experiments, in Germany, the London School of Economics and elsewhere. Yet on the whole there is nothing quite like this.

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Naturally the way in which I have done the interviews reflects both my own interests and my experience of what works. My central aim has been to let the speakers tell their own story, present themselves as they wish to do, without threatening or probing or adversarial xxii INTRODUCTION questioning. Yet in doing so, and with a roughly chronological approach, I have been particularly interested in the question of what accidents, historical contingencies, or personal traits have influenced the subjects and sent them towards a particular career. In particular, what they do has contributed to their more creative and sometimes inspired work and innovation in their various fields. From the very start of my interest in the oral history of my seniors and contemporaries, I have been keen to learn what I should do to make me as good an anthropologist and historian as possible. What are the craft skills and what are the ways of thinking and ordering one’s life which will maximize the chance of making a serious contribution to our knowledge of the world? This early interest was heightened when I found myself in the incredibly privileged surroundings of Cambridge for forty years, surrounded by the ghosts of Newton, Darwin, Rutherford and many others. The following describes the topics I have tried to cover in my interviews. On the surface, the interviews are almost unstructured and I avoid referring to a written questionnaire as this can distract from the spontaneity of the occasion. I encourage the interviewee to talk about whatever they would like. My role is similar to a psychiatrist’s, that is to say to let the subject narrate their life, in particular in relation to the obstacles and encouragements to creativity and discovery. We tend to cover the following:

when and where born ancestry – going back as far as they like, including occupation and temperament and possible effects of grand-parents, parents and siblings first memories and hobbies as a child first and subsequent schools, with important teachers, hobbies, subjects which gripped them, sports and games, music, special books university and those who taught and studied with them and interests there first research, supervisors, mentors, influences INTRODUCTION xxiii

jobs and career and travels through life, work abroad colleagues, friends and network of workers, partners and children methods of working and thinking major achievements and problem-solving during life, how they occurred, including especially important bursts of activity administrative tasks teaching and supervising of students effects of their work environment (laboratories, departments, Colleges etc) philosophy and religion political views and activities advice for a young person starting out in their field specifically ask if there is anything which they would like to have talked about and I have omitted to ask about

Yet if the subject does not want to follow this order, or to answer all of these, or to add further subjects, that is fine. What I want the reader to see is the inside of a life, told in a conversational and personal way.

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The interviews are an intimate probing of personal experience, usually by a complete stranger who is holding a potentially threatening video camera. The subjects know that this may be seen by almost anyone in the world – friends, students, competitors, and enemies, now and in the future. This could be intimidating, especially to older subjects and for those who share a widespread reserve and distaste for talking about themselves. I have, therefore, developed a number of techniques for putting the subjects at their ease. These have contributed, I believe, to the rather startlingly honest and trusting conversations which I have managed to have with a wide range of near strangers. It is worth briefly summarizing these since they could be helpful for others who help to extend this project. xxiv INTRODUCTION

. 1 It is important to have a fairly small and unostentatious camera that does not dominate or frighten the subject. The less intrusive the microphone the better – which is one reason why I have given up using lapel microphones. I place the camera on my knees and do not use a tripod, which can again be intimidating. 2. The room in which the interview is done is important. I avoid formal settings if possible – lecture theatres, ‘offices’, and seminar rooms. A room with gentle furnishings, an easy chair for both interviewee and interviewer, books and pictures and objects in the background, a pleasant view all helps. And of course, absolute silence and absence of telephones, mobiles, computers and interruptions is essential. I do not sit too close, or too far away. I sit at the same level, as I would do in any normal relaxed conversation between friends. 3. I try to develop the sheepdog technique. When gently moving a flock of sheep to its destination, a good sheepdog is mostly silent and still. Each time the sheep move in a satisfactory direction, the dog creeps forward. And then sinks onto the grass and waits attentively. It does not bark, just guides. So, if possible, I try to help the interviewee along, but only interrupt when they need encouragement or direction. I never shut them off (though I occasionally warn them if the conversation is getting into the realms of damaging speech and check that they are aware of this), but try to bring them to subjects as they are needed. 4. I always try to show interest, however little I know, or even care about the subject being discussed. What is being said is often important to the subject and has a depth which I, or others, may only realize later. They deserve serious attention and respect for what is often a summary of a life. Of course, I may verbally disagree a little, or query things, but I try always to do so in the pursuit of a common goal of understanding. Curiosity is the most important attribute. 5. It is important for there to be no sense of rush. If I want an hour of film, I allow 90 minutes, which gives time for general conversation, a cup of tea etc. INTRODUCTION xxv

6. I used to prepare carefully for the interviews. With people in my own subjects, this was possible. With scientists, beyond reading a brief life in an encyclopaedia, I cannot really prepare. It seems to work as well without preparation. 7. I used to think that it would be good if the ‘subjects’ prepared themselves in some detail, and when they asked me, I would advise this. In fact, I have found that spontaneity, even if it leads to some confusion, forgetting of names etc., is better and I advise people not to think about the interview – just that it will be chronological and they can say what they like (though they can look at one or two of the earlier interviews on the web if they would like to do so). 8. The fact that there is no commercial side to the endeavour has an effect. That I am doing it without specific pay for the job and not as part of a well-funded project, is usually obvious and helps. That all the materials are freely available on the web, can be downloaded for free anywhere in the world and used in teaching and research, all adds to the trust and spirit of altruistic collaboration. 9. The absence of any bureaucracy is important. We enter into an implicit contract. I have no paper for them to sign, assigning copyright, intellectual property rights etc. It is all agreed verbally and informally in the act itself. And hence the bond of friendship is not broken. 10. One of the things that has developed over the years and has greatly increased the interest and usability of the interviews is the possibility of putting up a summary with some time codes to help viewers navigate to an area that particularly interests them. The summaries are often very detailed and the development of the web has again made them more interesting and reliable since one can check names, theories, and connections. They also summarize much of the essence and flow of the interview. It is an art form in itself, combining considerable synthetic skills, a jigsaw ability and great concentration. It is not easy, but the website gives many examples of highly professional examples which have won high praise from the interview xxvi INTRODUCTION

subjects who are often amazed at how accurate and complete they are. The obvious comprehension shown in the summary further adds to the sense of trust. 11. Before the interview it is important to explain that anything that is said can be retracted or glossed later. People should not censor themselves too much. Candour and a relaxed flow of ideas are important and trying to avoid things detracts from this. I explain that while filming – before or after saying something – the interviewee can easily say ‘this is not for public dissemination’, ‘this is confidential’ or whatever. Any such passage is then excised from the version that becomes publicly available – but the original tapes are kept for posterity. I also explain that we will send them the full summary which needs to be checked for accuracy (especially names and technical terms), interpretations of statements, and also gives the person a chance to withdraw any section or passage if they wish. They may, as has sometimes happened, feel that they want to add something – some more autobiography, a clearer exposition of something technical. It is not difficult to put this into the summary either in square brackets or as an appendix. 12. The duration of time people can concentrate varies. Most people can manage an hour, and then, with a break, another hour. When the tape ends, I allow a few minutes for revival – but it is important not to lose the momentum. Some people prefer to do an hour, go away and come back some days later. This is alright, but can lead to repetition. But for older subjects (and many of mine are in their later eighties and older) it may be necessary. The older subjects also often feel more comfortable in their own homes amongst their books and belongings. This often gives an added dimension to the interviews.

If the subjects do reveal things which should be kept private for some years or even decades, these are edited out of the versions that go on the web, but the original tapes and full interviews will be preserved for posterity. Meanwhile the edited versions are put up on DSpace at Cambridge and on other websites, including YouTube, INTRODUCTION xxvii and now increasingly on websites all over the world – Scandinavia, America, China and elsewhere. The value of the interviews is enormously enhanced by the excellent and thorough summaries which Sarah Harrison has made of most of them, taking much more time and skill to do than the interviews themselves. What has been created, through a set of accidents, is a resource for the study of a number of academic disciplines, from anthropology to molecular biology, from history to astronomy, from sociology to mathematics. It also provides rich material for the study of British academic life and institutions in the 20th century. Furthermore, for those interested in the conditions of creativity and discovery, it is a unique archive. The project has developed as a result of a set of accidents and through the help and support of many people, in particular Sarah Harrison, Mark Turin, Jack Goody, Gerry Martin and many others. However, the project to publish the full interviews of selected individuals was the idea of Esha Béteille, whose support and advice have been indispensable. I would particularly like to thank Radha Béteille who it has been a great pleasure to work with. Her transcripts and editing have been extraordinarily well done and I am deeply impressed and grateful for her contribution. Institutions such as Cambridge University (DSpace and the Streaming Media Service in particular) and King’s College, as well as the British Academy, the Leverhulme Trust, the Firebird Foundation and others have also made all this possible. It is hoped that others will take the task on through the 21st century.

PARTone Antony Hewish. Photograph courtesy Alan Macfarlane. Antony Hewish

Antony Hewish, FRS, FInstP (born 11 May 1924) is a British radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 together with fellow radio-astronomer Martin Ryle for his role in the discovery of pulsars. He was also awarded the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1969. Hewish attended King’s College, Taunton. His undergraduate degree at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, was interrupted by war service at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, and at the Telecommunications Research Establishment where he worked with Martin Ryle. Returning to Cambridge in 1946, Hewish completed his degree and immediately joined Ryle’s research team at the Cavendish Laboratory, obtaining his PhD in 1952. Hewish made both practical and theoretical advances in the observation and exploitation of the apparent scintillations of radio sources due to their radiation impinging upon plasma. This led him to propose, and secure funding for, the construction of the Interplanetary Scintillation Array, a large array radio telescope at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (MRAO), Cambridge to conduct a high time-resolution radio survey of interplanetary scintillation. Hewish was professor of radio astronomy in the Cavendish Laboratory from 1971 to 1989 and head of the MRAO from 1982 to 1988. He developed an association with the Royal Institution in London when it was directed by Sir Lawrence Bragg. In 1965 he was invited to co-deliver the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on Exploration of the Universe. He subsequently gave several Friday Evening Discourses and was made a Professor of the Royal Institution in 1977. Hewish is a Fellow of Churchill College, 40 CREATIVE LIVES AND WORKS

NOTES

1. Wikipedia. 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Hewish 2. Newquay is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries, future spaceport and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of Cornwall, approximately 12 miles (19 km) north of Truro and 20 miles (32 km) west of Bodmin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newquay 3. Caius (Gonville & Caius College) is one of the oldest and largest colleges of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1348, the College combines the best of Cambridge tradition with 21st century teaching and research. The college has been attended by many students who have gone on to significant accomplishment, including fifteen Nobel Prize winners, the second-most of any Oxbridge college (after Trinity College, Cambridge). https://www.cai.cam.ac.uk/ & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonville_and_ Caius_College,_Cambridge 4. The Officers’ Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers’ Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units similar to a university club but operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst giving them an opportunity to take part in military life whilst at university. OTCs also organize non- military outdoor pursuits such as hill walking and mountaineering. UOTC units are not deployable units nor are their cadets classed as trained soldiers. The majority of members of the UOTC do not go on to serve in the regular or reserve forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officers’_Training_Corps 5. Martin Ryle, see Appendix 1. 6. John Ratcliffe, see Appendix 1. 7. Edward Appleton, see Appendix 1. 8. Ionosphere is the ionized part of Earth’s upper atmosphere, from about 60 km (37 mi) to 1,000 km (620 mi) altitude, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important role in atmospheric ANTONY HEWISH 41 electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere. It has practical importance because, among other functions, it influences radio propagation to distant places on the Earth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionosphere 9. James Hey, see Appendix 1. 10. Supernovae, supernova, see Appendix 2. 11. Maurice Wilkes, see Appendix 1. 12. Fourier, see Appendices 1 & 2. 13. Interferometers, see Appendix 2. 14. Alan Turing, see Appendix 1. 15. Bletchley Park, see Appendix 2. 16. The solar wind is a stream of energized, charged particles, primarily electrons and protons, flowing outward from the Sun, through the solar system at speeds as high as 900 km/s and at a temperature of 1 million degrees (Celsius). It is made of plasma. https://bit.ly/364X6Uf 17. Radio telescope, see Appendix 2. 18. Bernard Lovell, see Appendix 1. 19. Jodrell Bank, see Appendix 2. 20. Stanley Robert Mullard (1883–1979) was an English industrialist who founded the Mullard electronics company. https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Stanley_R._Mullard 21. Radio galaxy, see Appendix 2. 22. Quasars, see Appendix 2. 23. Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thetford 24. Pulsars, see Appendix 2. 25. A dipole exists when the distribution of electrons within the molecule lacks certain symmetry, and, like chirality, can be defined in terms of symmetry elements and point groups. https://www.sciencedirect.com/ topics/chemistry/dipole 26. Jocelyn Bell, see Appendix 1. 27. Edward ‘Teddy’ Bullard, see Appendix 1. 28. Doppler shift, see Appendix 2. 29. The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom’s national academy of sciences. Founded on 28 November 1660, it was granted a royal charter by King Charles II as ‘The Royal Society’. It is the oldest national scientific institution in the world. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, recognising excellence 42 CREATIVE LIVES AND WORKS in science, supporting outstanding science, providing scientific advice for policy, fostering international and global co-operation, education and public engagement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society 30. Nature, see Appendix 2. 31. White dwarf, see Appendix 2. 32. Neutron star, see Appendix 2. 33. Fred Hoyle, see Appendix 1. 34. Frequency drift pulsar dispersion – Frequency drifting is the pattern of phase and amplitude scintillatons due to the small-scale irregularities is displaced laterally by the large-scale pattern of angular deviations in the wavefront. The displacement is frequency-dependent due to dispersion in the refractive index along the path. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/ full/1985MNRAS.214...97S 35. Rosalind Franklin, see Appendix 1. 36. Black holes, see Appendix 2. 37. Stephen Hawking, see Appendix 1. 38. Roger Penrose, see Appendix 1. 39. Gravitational radiation, see Appendix 2. 40. Ripples, see Appendix 2. 41. Spacetime, see Appendix 2. 42. Joseph Hooten Taylor, see Appendix 1. 43. Russell Alan Hulse, see Appendix 1. 44. Martin Rees, see Part II, p. 47. 45. Book of Common Prayer is a liturgical book used by churches of the Anglican Communion. First authorized for use in the Church of England in 1549, it was radically revised in 1552, with subsequent minor revisions in 1559, 1604, and 1662. The prayer book of 1662, with minor changes, has continued as the standard liturgy of most Anglican churches of the British Commonwealth. Outside the Commonwealth most churches of the Anglican Communion possess their own variants of the English prayer book. The Book of Common Prayer has also influenced or enriched the liturgical language of most English-speaking Protestant churches. https:// www.britannica.com/topic/Book-of-Common-Prayer 46. The King James Version (KJV), also known as the King James Bible (KJB), sometimes as the English version of 1611, or simply the Authorized Version (AV), is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, commissioned in 1604 and completed as well as published in 1611 under the sponsorship of James VI and I. https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/King_James_Version ANTONY HEWISH 43

47. Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL (b. 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and author. He is an outspoken atheist. Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularized the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins 48. John Polkinghorne, see Appendix 1. MARTIN REES 93

NOTES

1. Wikipedia. 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Rees 2. Nick Jardine, see Appendix 1. 3. Nevill Mott, see Appendix 1. 4. Geoffrey Foucar Chew (1924–2019) was an American theoretical physicist. He is known for his bootstrap theory of strong interactions. Chew was a student of Enrico Fermi. His students include David Gross, one of the winners of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics, and John H. Schwarz, one of the pioneers of string theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chew 5. Dennis Sciama, see Appendix 1. 6. Black holes, see Appendix 2. 7. Big Bang, see Appendix 2. 8. Jocelyn Bell, see Appendix 1. 9. See Antony Hewish, Part I, p. 3. 94 CREATIVE LIVES AND WORKS

10. Pulsars, see Appendix 2. 11. Fred Hoyle, see Appendix 1. 12. Stephen Hawking, see Appendix 1. 13. Brandon Carter, FRS (b. 1942) is an Australian theoretical physicist, best known for his work on the properties of black holes and for being the first to name and employ the anthropic principle in its contemporary form. Carter studied at the University of Cambridge under Dennis Sciama. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Carter 14. Hawking, Stephen. 1988. A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. London: Bantam Dell Publishing Group. A Brief History of Time is a popular science book on cosmology by English physicist Stephen Hawking. It was first published in 1988. Hawking wrote the book for readers without prior knowledge of the universe and people who are just interested in learning something new. In A Brief History of Time, Hawking writes in non-technical terms about the structure, origin, development and eventual fate of the Universe, which is the object of study of astronomy and modern physics. He talks about basic concepts like space and time, basic building blocks that make up the Universe (such as quarks) and the fundamental forces that govern it (such as gravity). He writes about cosmological phenomena such as the Big Bang and black holes. He discusses two major theories, general relativity and quantum mechanics, that modern scientists use to describe the Universe. Finally, he talks about the search for a unifying theory that describes everything in the Universe in a coherent manner. The book became a bestseller and sold more than 25 million copies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Brief_History_of_Time 15. Carl Sagan, see Appendix 1. 16. Charles Darwin, see Appendix 1. 17. Albert Einstein, see Appendix 1. 18. Dorothy Parker, see Appendix 1. 19. Sydney Brenner, see Appendix 1. 20. Frank Kermode, see Appendix 1. 21. Dan McKenzie, see Appendix 1. 22. The Royal Society, see p. 41, endnote 29. 23. Pat Bateson, see Appendix 1. 24. The Group of Eight (G8) was an inter-governmental political forum that originated with a 1975 summit hosted by France that initially brought together representatives of six governments: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Group_of_Eight MARTIN REES 95

25. Angela Dorothea Merkel née Kasner (b. 1954) is a German politician who has been Chancellor of Germany since 2005. She served as the Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 2000 to 2018. Merkel has been widely described as the de facto leader of the European Union and the most powerful woman in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Merkel 26. Sir Issac Newton, see Appendix 1. 27. Christopher Wren, see Appendix 1. 28. Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) was a famous British diarist and President of the Royal Society. He was active at the same time as a group of outstanding natural philosophers (today we would term them scientists) including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, William Petty and Isaac Newton. https://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2015/12/17/ pepys-royal-society/ 29. Robert Boyle, see Appendix 1. 30. Gamma-ray bursts, see Appendix 2. 31. James Clerk Maxwell, see Appendix 1. 32. Quantum theory, see Appendix 2. 33. Richard Dawkins FRS FRSL (b. 1941) is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and author. He is an outspoken atheist. Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularized the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins 34. A sixth-former is a pupil in their sixth, or a-level year(s) 35. Gabriel Horn, see Appendix 1. 36. Thomas Kuhn, see Appendix 1. 37. Peter Medawar, see Appendix 1. 38. Quantum revolutions, see Appendix 2. 39. Phenomenology, see Appendix 2. 40. In December 1951, the first resolution concerning the establishment of a European Council for Nuclear Research (in French Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) was adopted. Two months later, an agreement was signed establishing the provisional Council – the acronym CERN was born. It is based in Geneva. Today, CERN’s understanding of matter goes much deeper than the nucleus, and its main area of research is particle physics. Because of this, the laboratory operated by CERN is often referred to as the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. https://home.cern/about 41. Particle physics, see Appendix 2. 42. Hubble Space Telescope, see Appendix 2. 43. Joseph Rotblat, see Appendix 1. 96 CREATIVE LIVES AND WORKS

44. Hans Bethe, see Appendix 1. 45. Los Alamos, see Appendix 2. 46. Rudy Peierls, see Appendix 1. 47. Bertrand Russell, see Appendix 1. 48. Robert Strange McNamara (1916–2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He played a major role in escalating the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. McNamara was responsible for the institution of systems analysis in public policy, which developed into the discipline known today as policy analysis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_McNamara 49. Relating to or characteristic of the English economist and clergyman Thomas Robert Malthus or his ideas about population or a person who supports the theories about population proposed by Malthus. NEIL TUROK 153

NOTES

1. Wikipedia. 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Turok­ 2. A Christian Scientist is an adherent of Christian Science which is a set of beliefs associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally known as the Christian Science church. It originated in 19th-century New England with Mary Baker Eddy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science 3. Mary Baker Eddy, see Appendix 1. 4. The first thinkers of antiquity are referred to as the ‘Presocratics’, even though some of these thinkers were in fact contemporaries of Socrates. For more details see Appendix 2. 5. Archimedes’ principle states: An object immersed in a fluid experiences a buoyant force that is equal in magnitude to the force of gravity on the displaced fluid. https://bit.ly/33QTpii 6. Crouch End is an area of North London, approximately 5 miles from the City of London in the western half of the borough of Haringey. It is within the Hornsey postal district. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crouch_End 7. Encyclopædia Britannica is the oldest English-language general encyclopaedia. It was first published in 1768, when it began to appear in Edinburgh, Scotland. The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica was published and printed in Edinburgh for the engraver Andrew Bell and the printer Colin Macfarquhar by ‘a society of gentlemen in Scotland’ and was sold by Macfarquhar at his printing office on Nicolson Street. https:// www.britannica.com/topic/Encyclopaedia-Britannica-English-language- reference-work 8. The British Entomological and Natural History Society (BENHS) is a British entomological society based at Dinton Pastures Country Park in 154 CREATIVE LIVES AND WORKS

Reading. It was founded in 1872 as the South London Entomological and Natural History Society and since its inception has always included amongst its members many of the leading entomologists of the day. https://www. benhs.org.uk/about/who-we-are/ 9. The equation was discovered in the late 1920s by physicist Paul Dirac. It remains highly influential. It brought together two of the most important ideas in science: quantum mechanics, which describes the behaviour of tiny objects; and Einstein’s special theory of relativity, which describes the behaviour of fast-moving objects. As a result, Dirac’s equation describes how particles like electrons behave when they travel close to the speed of light. http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160120-the-most-beautiful-equation-is- the-dirac-equation 10. Paul Dirac, see Appendix 1. 11. Sir Isaac Newton, see Appendix 1. 12. Albert Einstein, see Appendix 1. 13. James Clerk Maxwell, see Appendix 1. 14. Erwin Schrödinger, see Appendix 1. 15. Michael Faraday, see Appendix 1. 16. Antony Hewish, see Part I, p. 3. 17. Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but still retains a strong interest in the arts and humanities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_College,_Cambridge 18. John Douglas Cockcroft, see Appendix 1. 19. Henry Thomas Tizard, see Appendix 1. 20. Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London. Imperial grew out of Prince Albert’s vision of an area for culture, including the Royal Albert Hall, Imperial Institute, numerous museums, and the Royal Colleges that would go on to form the college. In 1907, Imperial College was established by Royal Charter, merging the Royal College of Science, Royal School of Mines, and City and Guilds College. In 1988, the Imperial College School of Medicine was formed by combining with St Mary’s Hospital Medical School. In 2004, Queen Elizabeth II opened the Imperial College Business School. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_College_London 21. Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles (24 km) northwest of central London. It is situated on the River Colne, and initially developed as a small market town until the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, NEIL TUROK 155 and breweries. While industry has declined in Watford, its location near to London and to good transport links has attracted several companies to site their headquarters in the town. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watford 22. Frank Anthony Wilczek, see Appendix 1. 23. Stephen Hawking, see Appendix 1. 24. Cyclic universe theory, see Appendix 2. 25. String theory, see Appendix 2. 26. M-theory, see Appendix 2. 27. To link acceleration and gravity, Einstein overthrew one of his own heroes: Isaac Newton. You may have learned that Newton described gravity as a force, an invisible rubber band that pulls together objects with mass. Newton’s math did a good job at predicting how everything from projectiles to planets moved – but it kept gravity separate from acceleration. Einstein argued that gravity isn’t a force at all. He described it as a curvature of time and space caused by mass and energy. https://www.discovermagazine.com/ the-sciences/how-to-understand-einsteins-theory-of-gravity 28. With the publication of A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field in 1865, James Clerk Maxwell demonstrated that electric and magnetic fields travel through space as waves moving at the speed of light. He proposed that light is an undulation in the same medium that is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena. The unification of light and electrical phenomena led his prediction of the existence of radio waves. Maxwell is also regarded as a founder of the modern field of electrical engineering. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clerk_Maxwell 29. For Dirac’s theory of particles go to http://www.bbc.com/earth/ story/20160120-the-most-beautiful-equation-is-the-dirac-equation and see also Paul Dirac in Appendix 2. 30. The Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences is an international research institute for mathematics and its many applications at the University of Cambridge. It is named after one of the university’s most illustrious figures, the mathematician and natural philosopher Sir Isaac Newton and occupies buildings adjacent to the Cambridge Centre for Mathematical Sciences. It opened in 1992 with support from St John’s College and Trinity College. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton_Institute 31. Paul Steinhardt, see Appendix 1. 32. Big Bang theory, see Appendix 2. 33. Dark matter, see Appendix 2. 34. Black hole, see Appendix 2. 35. Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), see Appendix 2. 156 CREATIVE LIVES AND WORKS

36. Ripples, see Appendix 2. 37. Spacetime, see Appendix 2. 38. Planck is a European Space Agency mission with significant participation from NASA. It was launched into space in May 2009, and now orbits the second Lagrange point of our Earth-Sun system, about 1.5 million km (930,000 miles) away. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/planck 39. Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (b. 1950) is an English business magnate, investor, author and former philanthropist. He founded the Virgin Group in the 1970s, which controls more than 400 companies in various fields. In 2004, he founded spaceflight corporation Virgin Galactic, based at Mojave Air and Space Port, noted for the SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane designed for space tourism. https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Richard_Branson 40. Virgin Galactic is a British spaceflight company within the Virgin Group. It is developing commercial spacecraft and aims to provide suborbital spaceflights to space tourists and suborbital launches for space science missions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Galactic 41. Dark energy is the name given to the mysterious force that’s causing the rate of expansion of our universe to accelerate over time, rather than to slow down. That’s contrary to what one might expect from a universe that began in a Big Bang. Astronomers in the 20th century learned the universe is expanding. https://earthsky.org/space/definition-what-is-dark-energy 42. Anthropic principle, see Appendix 2. 43. Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) is a US satellite placed in Earth orbit in 1989 to map the ‘smoothness’ of the cosmic background radiation field and, by extension, to confirm the validity of the big bang theory of the origin of the universe. https://www.britannica.com/topic/ Cosmic-Background-Explorer 44. Copenhagen is a play by Michael Frayn, based on an event that occurred in Copenhagen in 1941, a meeting between the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. It premiered in London in 1998 at the National Theatre, running for more than 300 performances, starring David Burke (Niels Bohr), Sara Kestelman (Margrethe Bohr), and Matthew Marsh (Werner Heisenberg). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_(play) 45. Niels Bohr, see Appendix 1. 46. Werner Karl Heisenberg, see Appendix 1. 47. Juan Martín Maldacena, see Appendix 1. 48. Herbert Eric Huppert, FRS (b. 1943) is an Australian-born geophysicist living in Britain. He has been Professor of Theoretical Geophysics and NEIL TUROK 157

Foundation Director, Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, at the University of Cambridge, since 1989 and Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, since 1970. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Huppert 49. The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is a tertiary education and research institute in Muizenberg, South Africa, established in September 2003, by Neil Turok, and is an associated network of linked institutes in Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania and Rwanda. AIMS South Africa was formed as a partnership between the following universities: University of Stellenbosch, University of Cambridge, University of Cape Town, University of Oxford, University of Paris-Sud and University of the Western Cape. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Institute_for_ Mathematical_Sciences 50. Muizenberg (Dutch for mice mountain) is a beachside town in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated where the shore of the Cape Peninsula curves round to the east on the False Bay coast. For more details see Appendix 2. 51. James Dewey Watson, see Appendix 1. 52. Nobel laureate James D. Watson peered deep into his genome on 1 June 2007. And soon, anyone else interested in his genetic makeup will be able to do the same. Scientists in Houston presented Watson with a DVD of his genome sequence, which they said was the ‘first individual genome to be sequenced for less than $1 million’. https://www.nature.com/ news/2007/070528/full/070528-10.html 53. TED is a non-profit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics – from science to business to global issues – in more than 100 languages. The TED Prize was born out of the visions offered onstage at the TED Conference for how change can happen in the world, one idea at a time. The TED Prize award was $100,000, along with full access to the TED community’s range of talent and expertise. In 2013, it was expanded to a $1 million award, to help the winner quickly build capacity for carrying out their ambitious wish. https://www.ted.com/about/ programs-initiatives/ted-prize 54. Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, see Appendix 1. 55. Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, see Appendix 1. 56. Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, see Appendix 1. 57. Lesotho is an enclaved country within the border of South Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesotho 158 CREATIVE LIVES AND WORKS

58. BlackBerry is a line of smartphones, tablets, and services originally designed and marketed by Canadian company BlackBerry Limited (formerly known as Research In Motion, or RIM). BlackBerry was one of the most prominent smartphone vendors in the world, specializing in secure communications and mobile productivity, and well known for the keyboards on most of its devices. At its peak in September 2013, there were 85 million BlackBerry subscribers worldwide thereafter it lost its dominant position in the market to the Android and iOS platforms. https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/BlackBerry 59. Mihal ‘Mike’ Lazaridis, OC, O.Ont, FRS (b. 1961) is a Greek- Canadian businessman, investor in quantum computing technologies, and founder of BlackBerry, which created and manufactured the BlackBerry wireless handheld device. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Lazaridis 60. Roger Penrose, see Appendix 1. 61. Christopher Isham, see Appendix 1. 62. The University of Waterloo is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ University_of_Waterloo 63. Alan Turing, see Appendix 1. 64. Fortran (derived from Formula Translation) is a general-purpose, compiled imperative programming language. Originally developed by IBM in the 1950s for scientific and engineering applications, FORTRAN came to subsequently dominate scientific computing. It has been in use for over six decades in computationally intensive areas such as numerical weather prediction, finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, geophysics, computational physics, crystallography and computational chemistry. https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortran 65. An influential teacher or popular expert. 66. BICEP (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization) and the Keck Array are a series of cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. For more details see Appendix 2. 67. Higgs boson, see Appendix 2. 68. Anisotropy, in physics, the quality of exhibiting properties with different values when measured along axes in different directions. Anisotropy is most easily observed in single crystals of solid elements or compounds, in which atoms, ions, or molecules are arranged in regular lattices. In contrast, the random distribution of particles in liquids, and especially in gases, causes them rarely, if ever, to be anisotropic. https://www.britannica. com/science/anisotropy NEIL TUROK 159

69. Eva Silverstein, see Appendix 1. 70. Gaussian noise, named after Carl Friedrich Gauss, is statistical noise having a probability density function (PDF) equal to that of the normal distribution, which is also known as the Gaussian distribution. In other words, the values that the noise can take on are Gaussian-distributed. https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_noise 71. Heisenberg uncertainty principle, see Appendix 2. 72. Baruch Spinoza (1631–77) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Sephardi origin. One of the early thinkers of the Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism, including modern conceptions of the self and the universe, he came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baruch_Spinoza 73. David Hume (1711–76) was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, historian, economist, librarian and essayist, who is best known today for his highly influential system of philosophical empiricism, scepticism, and naturalism. Beginning with A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), Hume strove to create a naturalistic science of man that examined the psychological basis of human nature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume 74. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational–Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational–wave observations as an astronomical tool. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIGO 75. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and highest- energy particle collider and the largest machine in the world. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundreds of universities and laboratories, as well as more than 100 countries. It lies in a tunnel 27 kilometres (17 mi) in circumference and as deep as 175 metres (574 ft) beneath the France–Switzerland border near Geneva. https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider