Alan Hirshfeld is Professor of Physics at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and an Associate of the Harvard College Observatory. He is the author of Parallax: The Race to Measure the Cosmos, The Electric Life of Michael Faraday, Eureka Man: The Life and Legacy of Archimedes,and the forthcoming book Seeing the Light: How Astronomers Discovered the Modern Universe. He is a regular reviewer for the Wall Street Journal and has lectured nationwide about science history and discovery.
Alan Hirshfeld
Professor of Physics, University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth
Participant In These Roundtable Discussions
Sat
Apr 27th
2013
Apr 27th
2013
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Ignorance and Curiosity
Physics Nobel laureate David Gross claims that the most important product of science is ignorance. Science is the quest not just for knowledge, but for better questions, and we’re generally more engaged by questions than by answers. Thus, ignorance drives science and curiosity is its engine. How do we know what we don’t know? Why... read more! »