Author Bio - Alan Lightman

Born in 1948 and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. From an early age he was interested in both science and the arts. By age seven, he had a chemistry set and burned a hole in the rug. He also built something like a tesla coil. When he turned it on, it knocked out every TV in the neighborhood. The neighbors became very wary of him. He used to fire off rockets that came down in their backyards or through their windows, so they gave him a wide berth. Excelling in both science and the humanities, he won city and state-wide science fairs as well as the state-wide competition for the National Council of Teachers of English award. He earned his Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1974, was a professor at Harvard in the 1970's,  he was the first professor at MIT to have a joint appointment in science and the humanities, and from 1979 to 1989 a research scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. In 2003, Lightman founded the Harpswell Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization that works to empower a new generation of women leaders in Cambodia. Lightman's novel Einsteins Dreams was a bestseller and has been translated into thirty languages. Alan's current book Mr g is also a bestseller and will be up for review next week!