MIT physicist and novelist Alan Lightman looks for meaning in the age of science

Author and physicist Dr Alan Lightman is the co-writer and host of the new PBS series “Searching: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science.”   In this podcast, Dr. Lightman discusses the experience that led to him to write the book Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine, why he agreed to develop the book into a series, his explorations with scientists, philosophers, and religious leaders around the question: how do we find meaning in an age of science. He also discusses his own dual trajectory—a student who won both science awards and poetry prizes, a man who has had two successful careers as a distinguished physicist and an accomplished novelist, (his best-selling novel Einstein’s Dreams puts the readers inside Albert Einstein’s mind imagining possible worlds as he discovers the theory of relativity),  the similarities between scientific and artistic creativity, the aesthetics that can drive scientific inquiry, the role of art as a meaning-maker, and the artistry and collaboration involved in making the series Searching.