Although the weekend is approaching, Sarah Lockwitz can hardly wait to attend Brian Greene’s lecture about the elegance of the universe.
“I’ll have to break a hot date to go to it, but I think it’s worth it,” the physics freshman said.
Lockwitz met the Columbia University professor of physics and mathematics on Tuesday when he visited her Physics 193H class.
Greene will discuss his best-selling book, “The Elegant Universe,” tonight during the first McPherson Professorship lecture. He will autograph copies of his book after the lecture, which is open to the public.
Lockwitz said she plans to get his signature, but she also has a question for him.
“It was really exciting,” Lockwitz said. “Me and a friend went out and got his book right away. (I want to) find out if he’s married or something. I didn’t see a ring at dinner last night.”
Greene, who will travel to Tokyo and Cape Town, South Africa, after his stay at MSU, said science is about answering questions that have been around for thousands of years - questions that drive people to know what it really means to be human.
It’s a passion he’s had since he was 12 years old, he said.
“Our generation is starting to find answers to these age-old questions,” he said. “That’s so exciting.”
The McPherson Professorship was inaugurated in fall 2000, after the university received a $2 million anonymous donation directing MSU President M. Peter McPherson to use the money to enhance undergraduate education.
“What I am trying to do is communicate the idea that science is an integral part of almost everything,” McPherson said. “An educated person has to engage in science and technology whether a science major or not.”
Physics Professor Georg Bollen said Greene seemed to know his undergraduate audience when he spoke to classes during his weeklong stay in East Lansing.
“He started from very basic things,” he said. “He went back to the basics and explained things that everyone can understand.”
Bollen also applauded Greene for bringing his ideas to MSU.
“He is very young, and I think he takes it seriously to bring complex issues to a young audience,” Bollen said. “He has a mission, and in this mission I think he’s very successful.”
