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Jim Gates: Theoretical Physicist Faith/Science Navigator

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Q&A with Jim
Most of the time when we make up ideas, they’re wrong. However when we get it right, it’s amazing.
His Science:
Theoretical Physicist

What he studies and thinks about: The very tiniest stuff in the universe

What he calls that stuff: String or filaments

Why he says we need string theory: Because new discoveries have shown that our old theories couldn’t explain things as well as we thought

His Secret:
Faith/Science Navigator

How long he’s been thinking about faith and science: About 50 years

What he’s concluded about faith and science: Only one or the other will not get us through the night

Where he says this leaves God in the discussion: Exactly where he was before

About Jim Gates

Jim Gates is Professor & Director of the Center for String & Particle Theory at the University of Maryland. He also recently received the National Medal of Science from President Obama. We consider Jim a Science/Faith Healer because he often speaks publicly about how human beings don’t need science or faith, but that, in fact, we need both.

Posts about Jim Gates

Tom Miller

Jim Gates Receives the National Medal of Science

Posted by Tom Miller | 08 February 2013

It isn’t everyday that one of our subjects gets the National Medal of Science. So we were thrilled to hear that Sylvester “Jim” Gates was going to be so honored. And our friend Jim was good enough to provide us with a report on the ceremony.

The ceremony began with the President making remarks and the beginning of a call of names of the recipients. I was number four on the list. And once I was onstage, I was actually able to have a little fun with President Obama as you can see from this photo. “Two physicists walk into a bar and the first one says…” (Getty Images)

I had been thinking about joking with him for a month. I was still undecided as I approached him. But when he said, “Come on up to get your award, Sylvester,” I determined to go ahead, and he delighted by my effort. In fact, for a few seconds the President was still laughing as can be seen in video of the event.

So the ceremony was a lot of fun, especially because my wife Dianna and our twins were there in the room. In addition, having Chancellor Kirwan – University System of Maryland – and President Loh - CEO for the university’s College Park campus - join us on this day was extremely satisfying.

I had a friend seated in the back of the room right in front of the members of the press. After the ceremony, he said you could hear a buzz go up among them wondering, “Who was this guy that the President seemed so comfortable with and vice versa?”

But my fun resulted in a faux pas. I was so taken with the President’s reaction to the joke I told him that for the rest of the time I was onstage, I was “non compus mentis.” After he put the Medal of Science around my neck, I forgot to stand next to him for a picture I dearly would have loved. Oh well, no good deed goes unpunished.

The award ceremony also gave me another occasion to briefly reflect on how fortunate I have been to be a part of the University of Maryland community. Similar to a line from a song, they - after my family - have truly been “the wind beneath my wings.”

To see more of the ceremony, check out this television report and the official White House video.

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Seandor Szeles

WATCH: “The Early Years” with Jim Gates

Posted by Seandor Szeles | 08 February 2013

Jim Gates describes how a character on the TV show “Make Room For Daddy” (1953-1965) opened his eyes to MIT, “where they only make you study the good stuff.”


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Seandor Szeles

WATCH: “The Importance of Doing Science”

Posted by Seandor Szeles | 09 January 2013

Why is science necessary? Theoretical physicist Jim Gates explains just how badly we’re going to need it down the road.


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Seandor Szeles

WATCH: “10 Questions for Jim Gates”

Posted by Seandor Szeles | 07 January 2013

How can science and faith be better friends? Is there any string involved in string theory? And who influenced Jim’s hair style?

Jim answers our “10 Questions” in the player above and on his Secret Life homepage.

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Tom Miller

The Outsiders

Posted by Tom Miller | 03 January 2013

When I was a kid, I always cried and made scenes in my first-grade classroom. After many failed interventions, the school principal came up with a solution. I could stay home for the rest of that school year… but I had to spend from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. – what would have been my school hours – in my bedroom. I couldn’t go outside or interact with anyone. Now this was a long time ago. And it was madness. But something happened during those hours in my room. I started drawing. And I fell in love with making pictures move. I made my first flipbooks. I started watching TV and movies in a new way (only before 8 a.m. and after 2 p.m., of course). When I finally went back to first grade the next year, I was still “different.” But I had something else – my own world that was mine and that no one could take away – and that bolstered me whenever I felt afraid. Young Jim Gates…

I don’t usually get so personal in these posts, but I felt so moved today because of Jim Gates. I was thinking about our interview with Jim and some things he said that were especially powerful:

“So, when I was a child, I had a tragic part of my life. My mother died when I was 12. And because of that event, I developed a very rich fantasy life, because it was a way to get away from the pain. So I read science fiction, I read comic books, I even drew my own comic book characters. I composed stories for these characters. And so, in my teenage years, I was still supporting my imagination by these activities, because it was driven by my emotional needs at the time. And so, now in my 60s, I find that I still have this element of imagination that some people describe as being child-like. And yet that’s the thing that allows me to look at a sea of mathematics – or a forest of mathematics – and see things slightly differently from anybody else that I know. It’s exactly the element of imagination.”

Now mind you, I’m not comparing the magnitude of anything I lost as a boy to what Jim lost – the most horrible loss a child can experience. I’m only noticing the similarity in how children can cope with sadness and loss… and how something good can come of it, something we can even use in our lives as adults. Jim explains:

“When one works in theoretical physics, one of the strange things about the tie between mathematics and reality is that it seems as though the mathematics, in some sense, exists before you get to it. It’s a very weird feeling. People often ask do you create the math or do you discover the math? It feels like you discover it. Like it’s just out there, waiting for someone with a particular mental mindset or point of view to come upon it. And so, in some of the things that I’ve done which are my unique contributions to the field… I tell people it’s because of my slightly cracked viewpoint that I see things slightly differently. One of my heroes is Albert Einstein, and he said it perhaps more elegantly, and I’m paraphrasing, but he said the outsider – because of the very disconnectedness they have from the group – sometimes has an advantage in creating new ideas, because the group-think doesn’t influence that person. And I’ve tried to maintain that in my career.”

So we salute Jim, who recently added to his many accomplishments by winning the National Medal of Science. And we salute all the other outsiders.

And if you’re a young person reading this and you’ve suffered a loss – or if you just feel like an outsider – take heart. You’ll get through it. And some of what really hurts right now could make you special. Like Jim Gates.

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Tom Miller

Ask Jim Your Questions

Posted by Tom Miller | 03 January 2013

You may have science. And you may have faith. But do you have string… theory?

Ask Jim Gates your sub-atomic question in the comments, people.

Comments
Seandor Szeles

WATCH: “30 Second Science” with Jim Gates

Posted by Seandor Szeles | 02 January 2013

String theory is a complicated concept that is famously difficult to explain. In just 30 seconds, theoretical physicist Jim Gates boldly explains his work, whittling this complicated theory down in what may be one of the most concise and accessible explanations to date.


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