Questions and answers with Neil Turok

Cosmologist Neil Turok is the director of Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Prior to that, he held the chair of mathematical physics at Cambridge University in the UK and was a physics professor at Princeton University in New Jersey.

With Stephen Hawking, he developed the Hawking–Turok instanton solutions, which describe the birth of inflationary universes. And he is the coauthor, with Paul Steinhardt, of Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang , a popular exposition of their cyclic theory of the universe. (See a review in Physics Today, January 2008, page 59 .)

The South African–born Turok is founder of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cape Town. AIMS is a pan-African postgraduate training and research center for exceptional African students, many of whom have gone on to complete master’s and PhD degrees in math and science. The AIMS Next Einstein Initiative, which Turok chairs, seeks to establish 14 other such centers on the continent.

For his contribution to science and education, Turok won the 2008 TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) Prize. His science and his educational activism are also on display in his most recent book, The Universe Within: From Quantum to Cosmos (House of Anansi Press, 2012). Physics Today recently caught up with him to discuss it.

PT: What motivated you to write this book?

Turok: I was invited to give a series of lectures on public radio in Canada, the CBC Massey Lectures, which are an annual institution in the country. Over the past fifty years, such notable figures as Martin Luther King Jr, John Kenneth Galbraith, and Doris Lessing have given these lectures, but very few scientists have ever been invited. It seemed like an excellent opportunity to try and communicate the importance of math and physics for the emergence of modern society, and what they mean for our place in the universe. The fact that we can understand the basic laws of nature, from the scale of the Higgs boson—a billionth the size of the atom—to the entire visible cosmos, ten trillion times the size of the solar system, seems to me one of the greatest miracles of our existence. We should take courage and strength from this ability in preparing for the future and its many challenges.

One of the most wonderful things about our deep understanding of the universe is that it is free and can be shared across all countries and cultures. The genius required for the next leap forward knows no borders, and it seems to me that, in facing the future, one of the greatest resources our planet has is the vast pool of untapped scientific and technical talent in developing countries—in Africa in particular. In the book, I tried to use my own experience as a scientist and a educational entrepreneur to illustrate these ideas.

PT: What is the meaning of the book’s title?

Turok: Each of us, every one of the seven billion people on the planet, has the capacity to understand how the universe works. Our minds allow us to see into realms of nature way beyond our everyday experience. Mathematics and physics allow us to make models and mental images of reality which have turned out time and time again to anticipate with great precision how nature actually works, long before we have verified those models with experiments. The Higgs boson, anticipated nearly fifty years before its discovery, is merely the latest example. I believe there needs to be a wider appreciation of how important this capacity to see into the heart of nature is, and how we should strategically develop it as a major asset for the planet.

I consider it one of my life’s great privileges that I have been able to develop models of the universe. I would like to share that experience with as many people as possible because I believe it both humbles us and deepens our sense of appreciation, and even purpose, in our existence.

PT: What has your experience been like thus far at Perimeter Institute, and what role do you see such institutions playing in reinventing the way knowledge is developed and shared, as you advocate in your book?

Turok: Perimeter Institute is a remarkable place, arguably unique in the world and maybe even in human history. Never before, I believe, has an investment on this scale been so strategically made to advance our basic understanding of the universe, in quantum theory, spacetime, and the fundamental laws of nature. At Perimeter Institute, the privilege of being able to see into the heart of nature is recognised as being of great importance because over time it will lead to new technologies of value to society. Perimeter is unusual in many respects as a fully autonomous center, designed as the ideal environment to develop and share our conceptions of the universe. It is a genuine public–private partnership strongly embedded within the local community. It has pioneered exceptional public outreach, sharing the importance and wonder of basic physics with the wider public.

The idea of a university—a place for sharing and developing knowledge—is, perhaps, humankind’s greatest invention. But the university model urgently needs refreshing. I think places like Perimeter offer a new take, combining leading-edge research with connectedness to the public and the world. Such places may well be a glimpse of the future.

PT: What is the status of the AIMS Next Einstein Initiative?

Turok: The AIMS Next Einstein Initiative is creating AIMS centres across Africa. There are three so far and a fourth is now in planning. I am still very much involved: as chair of the governing body of the AIMS centre in Cape Town [and] as a trustee of the centres in Senegal and Ghana.

PT: What books are you reading at the moment?

Turok: I have greatly enjoyed David Deutsch’s, The Beginning of Infinity [Viking Press, 2011; see review in Physics Today, December 2012, page 48 ]. I have also been reading Carl Sagan’s marvellous lectures, The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God (reprint edition, Penguin Books, 2007). Delivered in 1985 but only recently published, they are a marvellous example—maybe the best ever—of communicating the scientific viewpoint respectfully, inspiringly, without arrogance. And for Christmas, my daughter gave me The Complete Yes Minister (reprint, BBC Books, 1989) by Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay—insightful, timeless humor.