Martin Perl, Nobel Laureate in Physics VIDEO EXCLUSIVE

07.05.09 | Category: Power Zen, Simplicity

Nobel
Watch our exclusive interview with Prof. Perl who won the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the tau lepton, one of the elementary particles forming our world. In this lively video, experience his incredible energy, intellectual curiosity and excitement.

  • How Prof. Perl missed “The Call” from the Nobel Committee
  • How Nobel Laureates are treated in Sweden
  • Dining with the King and Queen of Sweden (hint: can’t go to the bathroom, no matter what!)
  • Why Physics is the simplest of the sciences
  • Why complexity is easier than simplicity
  • See the setup of Prof. Perl’s latest experiment
  • Prof. Perl’s discussion of Negative Space and Dark Energy
  • Why Emptiness is not empty in Modern Physics
  • Prof. Perl’s advice:
    Question all Laws!
    “This question of how you can have confidence in what you are doing, but still question it is a paradox” says Perl.

In the next episode, Prof. Perl shares his memories of Prof. emeritus of Physics Max Dresden who was a friend of Albert Einstein. Drue also talks with Prof. Perl about how Prof. Dresden influenced her.

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5 Comments so far

  1. Joe Liu 07.05.09 at 11:43 am

    Martin Pearl emits so much intellectual energy– no wonder he has achieved so much in his career.
    This interview is a gem– gives us amazing insights into the mind and thoughts of a genius.

  2. Vlasta Diamant 07.05.09 at 3:11 pm

    Simplicity is difficult, because it requires abstracting the multitude of the perceived phenomena or concepts to the essential; perhaps, it also requires stripping one of one’s ego, as Prof. Perl said, when giving 9 laws and then the tenth: forget all the previous ones.

    Emptiness is full of potential of other choices, other brushstrokes.

    Both simplicity and emptiness require and hold fluidity of thinking, imagination.

    Art and Science coming together in embracing ambiguity and contradiction. Prof. Perl:”Dark energy…is it there, or isn’t it, empty space…not really empty… emptiness is actually full…” It was fun to follow a scientist’s serpentine thinking. Thank you!

  3. Jacob 07.05.09 at 7:32 pm

    Prof. Perl is smarter than 99.9% of the Silicon Valley population. Yet, his view of the world carries the curiosity and amazement of a child.
    Great insights on simplicity coming from a beautiful mind who has tackled some of the most complex mysteries of the universe.

  4. Leslie 07.06.09 at 8:22 pm

    I love his story about finding a way to detect dark energy. He begins and immediately qualifies himself saying “Most people think you cannot detect [dark energy] on earth. They’re probably right.” He describes his silence as he listens to his theorist friends explain why it can’t be done. Though, he has just to us agreed it can’t be done, he still sees the possibility and the use of working through his new ideas. So, in a sense, it is not only his silence that illustrates the negative space, but the whole problem that exists in the negative space, where he will instead define what exists between his friends’ “cannot’s” and “probably’s.”

  5. Gil Lanese, PhD 05.29.10 at 8:41 pm

    I would enjoy discussing with a Mathematician/Physicist a theory I have been working on for several years which sets up the geometry of matter/energy around singularities or Absolute or negative space.

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