Q&A: S. James Gates on supersymmetry, genetics, and being avant-garde

Is Sylvester “Jim” Gates a genius? Or is he chasing his tail? It must be one or the other, according to a remark overheard during Gates’s talk at an American Physical Society meeting last January in Washington, DC. The talk was on his current research, which explores possible connections between theoretical physics and genetics. “Could something like evolution have played a role molding the mathematical laws of physics?” wonders Gates. “This is the deepest physics question I have ever asked in my life.”

Gates is no stranger to far-out topics. As a graduate student, he ventured into supersymmetry before it was popular, earning, in 1977, the first PhD from MIT in that field.

Gates joined the physics faculty at the University of Maryland in College Park in 1984, and in 1998 he became the first African American to hold an endowed chair in physics at a major US research university. In 2013 he received the National Medal of Science and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences—both firsts for an African American theoretical physicist. On 30 June he retired from the University of Maryland and took an appointment at Brown University.

Under President Barack Obama, Gates served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). He remains active in forensic science policy, serving on NIST’s Forensic Science Standards Board. He has also appeared in ads for TurboTax and Verizon and on televised science programs.

Gates talked to Physics Today about his research and teaching, his policy engagement, and some of the challenges he has faced due to his race.

PT: What got you interested in science?

GATES: At about four years old, I saw a science-fiction movie that caught my attention. There were rocket launches and astronauts, and one of the astronauts was a woman. The movie made such an impact that scenes remain in my memory over 60 years later.

Recently, I identified the movie as Spaceways, with Howard Duff as the lead actor. For a while he was married to Ida Lupino, who was one of my mother’s favorite actresses. This likely prompted my mom to take her children to the film. So Ida Lupino got me into science. I am one of those kids who grew up and got to do exactly what they dreamed about.

PT: Is the rest of your family scientifically inclined?

GATES: No. My father said of his four children that they were as different as four points on a compass. I have a brother who spent his entire professional life working in warehouses—he liked the physical labor. I have a sister who taught art, and my youngest brother spent his professional life in franchise restaurants. I am the only one who became a scientist, and I was the first in my family to attend college.

PT: What is your research these days?

GATES: All of my contributions are in the area of supersymmetry, where I’ve concentrated on things I believe are fundamental issues. One is: How does sypersymmetry modify our concept of quantum field theory? Another: How does the geometry of superspace extend Einstein’s idea of curved spacetime and Minkowski space? And third, my colleagues and I have asked some unique, fundamental questions about the mathematical structure of sypersymmetry that have led to a very strange place. These days, my research is a strange combination of physics, mathematics, computer studies of large data sets, and what looks to me like genetics.

PT: Can you explain the link between supersymmetry and genetics?

GATES: My intuition has led, in the past decade, to a demonstration that the equations of supersymmetry can be expressed in the language of networks. These networks have well-defined mathematical definitions, objects that we can draw in terms of graphs.

These graphs contain error-correcting codes. Error-correcting codes are a part of computer science, so you don’t expect them to be in the structure of the equations that describe our universe. The only place in the natural sciences where error-correcting codes are discussed is in genetics.

If you look at genetics, the explanation for the presence of error-correcting codes is that they are the result of evolution and confer evolutionary advantage to genetic systems. So then I was led to the question, Is it possible that mathematical laws that describe our universe went through a process very much like evolution? If so, was there an “inchoate epoch” at the beginning of the universe?

We have discovered these strange networks, named them adinkras, and think of them like genes in actual biological systems. We are in the process of mapping attributes of these networks onto properties of differential equations that describe supersymmetry in our universe. That’s why I said it’s kind of a genetics problem that I am trying to solve right now.

PT: When you did your doctoral research in supersymmetry, the topic was not mainstream. Is it intimidating to be on the edge?

GATES: No, for a couple of reasons. I have said that a reason people should support diversity is because it empowers individuals with the widest perspectives, unconstrained by conventional wisdom. I am disposed to look where other people are not looking, because I am different. And although I don’t follow the crowd, I try to be very conservative in what I undertake.

As a graduate student, I initially worked in an area where many others were working, including people with years of experience in the field. How was I supposed to make a contribution that was of value when there were so many more-experienced people working on the same thing? That seemed like an unfair competition.

My reasoning was, if I am going to be successful, I should try to make a unique contribution. That’s what drove me to look at emerging possibilities for important directions in the field. I spent a couple of months studying, making huge lists with authors and subjects. And in that process, I encountered this new topic called supersymmetry. It was about two years old. And I realized that it was extraordinary, although I couldn’t convince anyone else at MIT at the time that this was the case—which still amazes me.

In the 1980s I spent some summers at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. The center’s founder, Nobel laureate Abdus Salam, took me under his wing. He told me he was sure that when a sufficient number of people of the African diaspora entered physics, something like jazz in physics would occur. At the time, the comment was totally mystifying to me. But his point was that when you allow people with different perspectives to engage in extraordinarily difficult human endeavors, you are likely to get much richer results. You would not expect expert classical musicians to create jazz―that’s how I now translate it.

PT: Are you active in trying to attract or mentor minorities in physics?

GATES: Yes and no. I do a lot of outreach with students in general. When it comes to minority students, I treat them like other students. The fact that I am a minority often seems to have the result that my minority students understand that being different doesn’t mean you have to be less intellectually capable. I engage in authentic research with undergraduates. In fact, I haven’t taken on graduate students in recent years.

PT: Why do you work only with undergraduates?

GATES: The reason is that my research, which I think holds enormous promise, is not accepted as something that would support a young person getting a good postdoc after they leave my tutelage. So I work with undergrads. For them, they get their first published paper in a refereed journal in this process. For my undergraduate students it’s a great boon, especially in applying to graduate school.

PT: In the past you’ve mentioned an incident that occurred in 1983 when Pierre Ramond and you were driving from the Albuquerque airport to Los Alamos National Laboratory. Can you retell that story?

GATES: As we were driving along, Pierre was concerned that he had missed a turn. We approached a police car parked along the side of the road. Pierre said, “I am going to stop and ask for directions.” And I said to him very pointedly, “Pierre, do not stop the car. Just keep going.” He stopped anyway. He explained to the policeman, “I am a scientist, and I am trying to get to Los Alamos. Can you tell me the proper directions to get there?” As he was speaking, I saw the policeman leaning forward and looking at me. It was clear he wanted to know what this black man was doing in the middle of the desert making a claim that he is going to a government laboratory.

The policeman disrespectfully told Pierre to pull off the highway. Pierre got upset—all he wanted was directions and to get to the meeting on time. The policeman ultimately gave Pierre a ticket for unsafe operation of a vehicle. Pierre didn’t understand the dynamic. He was outraged and told the policeman, “I am going to see you in court.” A month or two later, Pierre went back to New Mexico to a court hearing in front of a judge. The case was dismissed. For years afterward, whenever I saw Pierre, he would ask me how I knew to tell him not to stop.

I have had many such experiences—in physics and outside—including some that could have ended my life, but I prefer not to dwell on those.

PT: Describe your public service activities, in particular your time on PCAST and your involvement in forensics.

GATES: The greatest surprise to me about PCAST was how three people—John Holdren, President Obama’s science adviser; PCAST cochair Eric Lander; and Nobel laureate and former NIH [National Institutes of Health] head Harold Varmus—by some amazing trickery or luck or skill or a combination, assembled a group of 20 or so people who worked together coherently. The group could work together so efficiently and powerfully, with extraordinarily little dissention.

One issue we worked on was the Federal Communications Commission rules for the internet. The existing rules were, in one sense, a legacy of the Titanic. When the Titanic went down, there was a ship not too far away that could have effectuated the rescue of many people, but because of radio interference, the messages never got out. So after the Titanic, the government set up rules—that is where the system with channels comes from. And it’s how the wireless system was being allocated. But it turns out the technology for wireless usage could be switched to be more like the internet, using message-packaging technology. It’s more efficient and allows more information to be transferred. And that is what we recommended to the president. It shows how the government is a foundation for many things that the public never gets a chance to see.

One of the final reports that PCAST did was on forensic science [see Physics Today, November 2016, page 32 ]. I have made a commitment to remain in that part of public policy by trying to be useful as that evolves toward more scientifically defensible techniques and practices.

PT: Are you staying on the Forensic Science Standards Board?

GATES: Yes. The impression most people have of forensic science is what they get from watching media, where it seems scientific and advanced. But the reality is far removed from that. I am concerned that perpetrators will be left free, and innocent Americans convicted, because juries are told that procedures are based on good science principles. And they are not always. To me this is outrageous, and I would like to make a difference there.

PT: What are your plans for the future?

GATES: I want to wrap up the weird question of whether something like evolution could have played a role in our laws of physics. I want to have an answer I am comfortable with within a 10-year period. That is my highest research priority.

In terms of other things, I want to write an autobiography. I have a suspicion that my life will be of interest at least to some, so I want to be able to have a say on what I have seen and experienced and what I’ve been able to do. I also will continue to teach and mentor.

And I am working on two books. One of them is a history of theoretical physics, with two coauthors. And the other, with a different coauthor, is an exciting telling of the story of how Einstein was brought to the attention of the entire world. It was principally through the 1919 expeditions to observe the [total solar] eclipse.

PT: Anything you’d like to add?

GATES: Yes. My wife is a pediatrician. She is also the health officer for Charles County in Maryland. And my twin children are currently aimed toward science careers—my son is studying biology and my daughter is in graduate school in theoretical physics. She coauthored papers with me as an undergraduate. My family is the central source of my joy these days.