Origins reveals the human being within the scientist in a study of the philosophical, personal, and social factors that enter into the scientific process. Twenty-seven active cosmologists--including Stephen Hawking, Roger Penrose, Steven Weinberg, Vera Rubin, Allan Sandage, Margaret Geller, and Alan Guth--talk candidly about their childhoods and early influences, their motivations, prejudices, and worldviews. The book's lucid introduction traces the explosion of new ideas that has recently shaken cosmological thinking. Origins explores not just the origin of the universe but also the origins of scientific thought.

Alan Lightman is Professor of Science and Writing and Senior Lecturer in Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also a Research Scientist at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Read More by Alan Lightman:

• Ancient Light: Our Changing View of the Universe