Edward W. Kolb's Induction Remarks

Cambridge, MA, October 5, 2002 - In this hyper-specialized and finely partitioned modern world, there is precious little contact between the sciences, the humanities, the arts and government. One of the hallmarks of this Academy is that it brings together artists, writers, scientists, and politicians, so we can stand together, arms locked in camaraderie, and present a united front for the arts and sciences.

I would like to make some remarks about connections between seemingly unrelated investigations. The great American naturalist and conservationist John Muir said, "When you tug on a single thing in nature, you find it connected to the rest of the universe." Organizations may divide the sciences into departments from astronomy to zoology, but Nature herself is not so neatly partitioned. As Muir said, everything is connected to the rest of the universe.

The most exciting research areas in the sciences are interdisciplinary. It's a magic moment when people realize that single things they are tugging on are a common thread in Nature's tapestry. We seem to be in the midst of such a realization in the study of the universe.

As a cosmologist, I study the largest objects in the universe, galaxies and filamentary structures hundreds of millions of light years across. But I work at Fermilab, a particle accelerator laboratory, where we probe the smallest things in the universe, quarks and other fundamental particles and forces. The remarkable fact is that to understand the largest things, we must study the smallest things. We believe that galaxies and everything else in the cosmos arose from the action of submicroscopic forces in the first billionth of a second after the big bang. We can't understand galaxies without understanding quarks. Tugging on quasars connects us to quarks.

Modern cosmology began 100 years ago in Bern, Switzerland, when a Swiss civil servant, a technical expert 3rd class working in the patent office, scribbled some equations on a piece of paper and started down the road to relativity. The discoveries of Albert Einstein sparked the scientific revolution of the 20th century. They rank among humanity's greatest achievements. They are part of the framework for our understanding of the origin and evolution of the universe.

The development of the big-bang model by Einstein and others was a triumph of 20th century science. We now understand the evolution of the universe starting from the time of the bang, 15 billion years ago until today. In spite of the great successes of modern cosmology, I believe that as we start the 21st century we are poised for a sweeping revolution in our understanding of the universe.

The reason I believe we are on the verge of a new revolution traces back to, of all things, an accounting irregularity. This accounting irregularity makes the recent accounting issues look like small change. I don't want to alarm you, but 95% of the mass and energy of the entire universe seems to be missing. Well, it's not exactly missing; we know it is there because we can measure its effects, but it seems to be invisible.

This is a story that has been unfolding since 1933, when astronomers first suspected that there was much more to the universe than meets the eye. Striking recent observations confirm that the neutrons, protons, and electrons of which we are made comprise just a few percent of the total mass of the universe. It seems that most of the universe is in the form of an undiscovered elementary particle.

In 1543, the Polish astronomer Nicholas Copernicus proposed that Earth is not the center of the solar system. In 1918, the American astronomer Harlow Shapley, a former President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, proved that our solar system is not the center of our galaxy, and in 1924 the American astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that our Milky Way galaxy is but one of billions in the universe. Perhaps we have finally reached the end of the Copernican revolution. Not only are we not at the center of the universe, but also, the very stuff of which we are made is only a very small fraction of the matter of the universe.

Just when we start to face up to the possibility of invisible matter, in 1998, astronomers uncovered evidence that the universe is being pulled apart by a mysterious dark pressure force. It seems that every nook and cranny of space is full of a new type of dark energy. If true, in each liter of space there would be a million volts of dark energy.

Thankfully, cosmic accounting irregularities are not a scandal, but an opportunity. Unlocking the secrets of dark matter and dark energy may spark a new revolution as far reaching as Einstein's. Perhaps there are more than three dimensions of space. Infinite, hidden dimensions may be awaiting discovery. Or maybe the fundamental building blocks of nature are not particles after all, but extended objects we call strings. Perhaps there is more to gravity than Newton or even Einstein imagined? Whatever the explanation, it is certain to involve the interplay of nature on the smallest scales and nature on the largest scales.

As a theoretical physicist, I am paid to make predictions, so I'll predict that in five years the dark matter and dark energy will be understood to result from the existence of dimensions of space we have yet to explore. I can also predict exactly how this remarkable discovery will revolutionize philosophy, art, religion, government, technology, and everyday life, but I see that my 5 minutes are up.

For more information about this year's new class or about the Induction Ceremony and other Academy events, please call Phyllis Bendell at (617) 576-5047 or email pbendell@amacad.org.

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