Maya Ajmera, President & CEO of Society for Science and Executive Publisher of Science News, spoke with Frank Wilczek, a theoretical physicist, author and
Nobel laureate. Wilczek has made seminal contributions to fundamental particle physics, cosmology and the physics of materials. His current research focus includes axions, anyons and time crystals, which are concepts in physics that he named and pioneered. Wilczek is an alumnus of the 1967 Science Talent Search , a competition owned and produced by Society for Science. He serves on the Society’s Honorary Board.It was quite an experience for me.
The memory of World War II and the atom bomb was very fresh in the minds of the adults around me. While I didn’t have firsthand knowledge of those things, we did have air raid drills and big scares about nuclear war. Meanwhile, the space race was taking place. Science was in the air, and it was very exciting. My parents also encouraged me every step of the way.
Asymptotic freedom, which I discovered with David J. Gross in the 1970s, is best understood in the context of what it accomplished for physics: It was the key to getting to the fundamental theory of what’s called the strong force, which is the force responsible for holding together atomic nuclei. Scientists hold the standard model to very high standards because it’s kind of God’s last word on how the world works. These are the fundamental equations that are the basis for astrophysics, chemistry, biology and all forms of engineering. When you hold the theory to that high standard, you find there’s an annoying flaw in the equations. A particular interaction doesn’t match what’s expected, which creates a puzzle.
It means a lot to me because, while I’ve continued to work on fundamental issues in physics and applications of physics, I have also come back to the questions that in many ways motivated me at the beginning. We didn’t discuss this, but there’s another thing that fed into my scientific career: When I was a teenager, I grew up in the Roman Catholic Church. I took it very seriously and had the idea that the universe had a purpose.
My wife, Betsy Devine, was very influential in getting me to write for the public. We wrote together. Our first book wasWhat advice do you have for young people today who may be interested in pursuing research and tackling big problems?
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