A Sense of Awe:
An Interview With Physicist Sidney Perkowitz

by Mary Davis

Sidney Perkowitz, Ph.D., is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Physics at Emory University in Atlanta. His bio succinctly states his numerous scientific credentials: "...His research on the properties of matter has produced over one hundred scientific papers and books. He has been funded by most major governmental agencies and has served as a consultant to industry and to the US and foreign governments. He's a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science...." You may read his CV for the titles of his numerous publications. The Washington Post calls Sidney Perkowitz " ... a gloriously lucid science writer ..." Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, says, "Sidney Perkowitz takes us on a sparkling, witty jaunt — from the microscopic networks in aerogel to the galactic bubbles in cosmic foam." Leon Lederman, Nobel Laureate in Physics, says. " ...Perkowitz deals physics explanations with clarity, incisiveness and precision."

My first awareness of Sidney Perkowitz and his work came several years ago when Emory University invited alumni/alumnae to hear lectures by a number of distinguished Emory professors. I attended his lecture, which I found fascinating. His Universal Foam had been published, and he basically discussed physics and foam, even bringing samples of various materials for us to examine. The materials included the aerogel foam used in last year's space mission "Stardust" to capture particles in space which are moving very fast (those captured particles are being analyzed now).

While he did not bring samples of cappuccino foam to the lecture, he discussed the bubbles he noticed when he makes cappuccino — everyday they are a bit different, some big, some small, and they captured his interest. Of course, the next day, I bought and enjoyed reading Universal Foam.

In the intervening years, I discovered that we frequent the same coffee shop. An artist friend who exhibits collages at this coffee shop mentioned a conversation he and Perkowitz had about art as well as about physics. At that point, I knew this man is someone whose work I hoped to include in Mythic Passages. Little did I know until preparing for this interview, how closely his work and thought speaks to much of what we are attempting.

With permission we also are reprinting two of his articles which appeared in the British publication Physics World and their Physics Web: Science Treads the Boards (November 2004) and Hollywood Physics (July, 2006).

In this interview, I have asked Dr. Perkowitz for his life story, including his interest in physics, as well as his transition from writing primarily for academic purposes to writing about science, including science and art, for the wider public. We discussed his books and the plays (!) he has written.

Davis: When did you first become interested in physics?

Perkowitz: Even from the age of 5 or 6, I read about science. I grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household. Like many families, my family was very dysfunctional, and as a child, I read a great deal. I think it was a search for order.

It was also a sense of awe. A sense of awe is part of being a scientist. In a sense, it is the same experience as being religious, from the same source. We all have this sense of awe, this sense of nature, especially as children. It is beautiful to be both awestruck and to think you can understand.

It was also a special experience to grow up in New York City. As a teenager, I hung out at MOMA (the Museum of Modern Art).

Davis: Tell me about your research and your work in physics. Far infrared studies, photo luminescence and Raman scattering, the physics of light and sunlight, relativity, true colors, space exposure effects on various materials, lattice vibrations of Cadmium Manganese Telluride alloys, when East meets West — these are just a few of the issues in your published academic work.

Perkowitz: I work with condensed matter physics, either solids or liquids. It is that part of physics which has impact on our lives day to day (like everything in the computer chip). Some of us call it "table — top physics." It is not exactly, not directly, cosmology.

Davis: When and how did you start writing about science for the general public ...understanding that you also still write for an academic audience?

Perkowitz: One of my last primarily academic scientific publications was a book about Raman and solids. I also wrote "When East Meets West" about what science is like in China compared to this country. They are very respectful of their professors. That was my first piece sold to a popular science magazine. I was then encouraged to write more, and I found an agent. Then, I wrote Empire of Light.

Also, when I hit my fiftieth birthday, I had published my 100th scientific paper. My greatest heroes are writers, and I have never regretted these two careers!

Davis: Let's talk about these four books you have written in recent years. What inspired you to write the first one, Empire of Light?

Perkowitz: I was inspired by a MOMA painting by René Magritte. The top is light and the bottom is night. There's contrast and paradox. Lots in science is paradoxical, so it's a good metaphor for science. I think it's my best written book. It is about how light is perceived by science and by artists, about how pigments work. It's also been translated into Braille!

Davis: The discussion of your inspiration by the Magritte painting reminds me of a personal experience with light which I describe as "mystical." Have you had these "mystical/emotional" experiences with light?

Perkowitz: Perhaps one and one-half "mystical/emotional" moments! One was looking at a portrait of an old man by Rembrandt in Rembrandt's home in Amsterdam. Another was a Mark Rothko painting at MOMA. When one focuses on where the bands of color come together, the way they merge is magical. Perhaps there's some relationship to the fact of Rothko's suicide ...

Davis: How did Universal Foam, your second general book, get started?

Perkowitz: I make cappuccino every day at home. Every day's a bit different — some bubbles are big, some bubbles are small. My agent said we could sell a book about a scientist looking at the world around him. We see milk foam and whipped cream.

There's also solid foam, which is like liquid foam except that it's frozen in space. Aerogel foam has tiny strands of glass or aluminum ... it doesn't move, the bubbles last forever. Think Swiss cheese. The main uses are scientific. Aerogel foam captures particles in space which are moving very fast, and the "Stardust" space Mission last year used aerogel foam to capture particles which are currently being analyzed. For this book, I interviewed the lead scientist and then interpreted the science for the readers.

Davis: Your third book is Digital People?

Perkowitz: Digital People is about robots, bionic people and where we are in making simulations of humanity. Most robotics in Japan are designed for civilian use, and in the United States, for military use.

Davis: And the new book, Hollywood Science, is being released this November (although I believe we can order copies in advance from your website ). How does the book differ from the article we are reprinting from Physics World?

Perkowitz: The book is about all of science, not just physics, and the way science is portrayed in film. It is a book which either science "groupies" or movie buffs will like. I have fun in the book with where science movies go wrong. I discuss the impact of movies and television on our consciousness. And what scientists are really like as opposed to how they are portrayed in the movies.

(Note: We then discussed whether the movies are helpful to human consciousness in reaching a realistic view of science or whether they pull us backwards. We discussed the history of science in various cultures ... and the real need currently for scientific literacy in the United States. Then we returned to our discussion of writing.)

Davis: Tell me about the next phase of your writing. How did you become a playwright?

Perkowitz: I did not want to write two books about the same subject, and I want to try every genre except poetry, which I feel requires true brilliance.

I also had a student who asked to write a play instead of a term paper, and her play was brilliant! When she was age 18, Lauren Gunderson's writing inspired me! She is from Atlanta, and, now in her mid 20s, she is studying screenwriting and playwriting in New York City.

Davis: What plays have you written?

Perkowitz: Friedmann's Balloon was the first, presented by Theater Emory in 2002; then, Albert and Isadora, presented in New York in 2003; and Glory Enough: Rosalind Franklin and DNA, presented by Theater Emory in 2005. Friedmann's Balloon is about Friedmann's challenge in the 1920's to Einstein's conclusion from general relativity that the universe is static. Einstein accepted Friedmann's result.

Davis: Tell me about Albert and Isadora, which I find intriguing.

Perkowitz: Albert Einstein and Isadora Duncan were one or two years apart in age. My play is a fantasy about how they would have interacted if they had known one another. Lori Bellilove, a woman in New York, replicates the way Isadora Duncan danced. This play demonstrates how gravity works, how the theory of relativity works; how gravity holds us to the earth (and we have to have it), but it keeps us from soaring. It's about Einstein's deepest theory ... and about Isadora's attempt to free herself from the shackles of gravity. Lori Bellilove's body acted this out in the performance.

(Note: Dr. Perkowitz has also written about general relativity for the Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Relativity," www.britannica.com/eb/article-252876 and www.britannica.com/eb/article-9109465.)

Davis: How did you become interested in the relationship of science and dance?

Perkowitz: Well, my first girlfriend was a ballerina! In Britain, I also became aware of the work of Rita Marcalo and her interest in choreography and theoretical physics: how time works, how physics affects her dance, and in Bergson's thought.

Davis: And your play, Glory Enough, the dramatized story of Rosalind Franklin?

Perkowitz: Rosalind Franklin's work on DNA was very important. Her work has often been unrecognized, with all of the credit going to Crick and Watson.

Davis: One of my daughters is a scientist, so I know about the difficulties facing women in science.

Perkowitz: My play is about this ...and Rosalind Franklin's story.

Davis: Let's talk about science and art.

Perkowitz: If you are a person who is not an artist, you may think that artists deal purely in the romantic, the emotional; but artists are extremely thoughtful. They are thoughtful about what they put on canvas, the screen, the stage — about how to do it, about solving problems. Also, if you have a simplified view of the world, you may think that some persons are rational and some emotional. I think that's dead wrong. The rational and the emotional illuminate each other.

In Digital People, I discuss research on the brain and consciousness, the physiological connections between the "rational" and the "emotional." I discuss the work of Antonio Damasio, in his Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. If you cut out the "emotional" part of the brain, you can no longer make a rational choice of priorities from a list. So, it's a false dichotomy. It's always mixed together. We analyze and appreciate. If you do both, you can let them shine on each other, you can do them better!

Davis: We have spoken briefly on the nature of work, money, satisfaction. Will you comment?

Perkowitz: Real satisfaction is when work satisfies one's deepest self.

Davis: This discussion has been great fun. What's next for you?

Perkowitz: I continue teaching. My book about film, Hollywood Science, is ready except for its final proofing, and it will be available in November. Now, I'm working on a film script, a screenplay about cloning, Two Into One Won't Go. It will be ready in a month or so. It's approximately 120 pages and two hours. I am writing it for pure personal pleasure!

Mary Davis chairs Publications for the Mythic Imagination Institute. Davis was elected five times to the Atlanta City Council, serving there twenty years, she hopes making a difference for Atlanta's people. Consultant in public policy, strategic planning, public relations, marketing, writing, editing, and real estate; yoga teacher; actress; civic leader and activist; she says, "You name it, I have done most of it!" Davis especially enjoys her three adult daughters, six young grandchildren, and her friends, plus, of course, her involvement with the Mythic Imagination Institute, Emory University, and the Jung Society of Atlanta.

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