Tasneem Zehra Husain is a string theorist, writer and educator. She received her PhD in theoretical physics at Stockholm University, and did post-doctoral research at Harvard University. Tasneem is fascinated by scientific theories, how we engage with them, and how they change us. She explores these themes in her fiction and nonfiction writing, her talks for students and lay audiences, and the workshops she conducts for science teachers. Tasneem's upcoming popular science novel Only The Longest Threads, [Paul Dry Books, 2014] reimagines critical moments in history when new scientific theories redefined our understanding not only of the universe, but also our place in it. Website: http://www.tasneemzehrahusain.com/ Email: [email protected]
by Tasneem Zehra Husain Maluma and Takete No offense to Shakespeare, but I've never quite bought into the philosophy that names are immaterial. Calling a rose by another name might not affect its smell, but it could well impact our association with the flower. To me, the act of naming borders on the sacred. Names,…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain Even the most cerebral of us can deal in abstractions only so far. No matter how grand the statement, how magnificent the law, how awe-inspiring the philosophy, there comes a point when, inevitably, we ask: but what does it mean? ” An interpretation of the universe remains unsatisfying unless it covers…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain There's no doubt about it: conflict commands attention. Perhaps it made sense as an evolutionary strategy. Historically, the conflicts we would become aware of were those that occurred in our immediate vicinity, and as such, could have life or death consequences. The penalty for ignoring such a scenario, in favor of…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain It just so happened that when the discovery of gravitational waves sent ripples through the world, Valentine's Day was right around the corner. News stories about this victorious verification of ‘Einstein's last remaining prediction' were as ubiquitous as the pink and red cards, making grandiose claims – or extravagant promises –…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain It is practically a rite of passage for physics majors. We study Maxwells equations – the illuminating set of relationships that reveal the nature of light; we marvel at the power and grace of this compact quartet, and can't resist a chuckle when – inevitably – we come across the t-shirt…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain The development of [my] thought-world is in a certain sense a continuous flight from wonder. —Albert Einstein We are marked in large part by our celebrations: what we celebrate, and how we choose to do so, says a lot about who we are. As a global society, we seem to be…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain Some myths seep so deep into popular culture, that even those who are not aware of the origins of a legend, know the story. Few of us have read Ovid's original account of the Cypriot sculptor, Pygmalion, who carved a beautiful woman out of ivory, and proceeded to fall so deeply…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain Some time in 1919, or so the story goes, Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington was asked whether it was true that only three people in the world understood relativity. Apparently, he thought for a moment and then asked: “Who's the third?” Depending on your mood, that can either sound witty or just…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain In today's world, no matter what you do, success seems to depend on how you project and market your ‘brand'. Surrounded constantly by advertisements, full of startling images and clever one-liners, it is only natural that most of us adopt the same vocabulary; painstakingly, we hone our physical and digital selves…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain Remember Plato's allegory about the cave? Prisoners, chained inside a cave, sit facing a blank wall with a fire lit behind. All they know of the world is through shadows cast on the wall, by whatever it is that moves between them and the fire. The entirety of their knowledge is…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain Emergence is a word deep enough to lose oneself in. It alludes to realities appearing, not suddenly or out of nothing, but slowly dissolving in to our consciousness – like a fuzzy picture, coming into focus. It refers to a gradual process, one that is smooth – not jerky – and…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain It sounds a bit ridiculous when you admit your jealousy of inanimate objects. If you confess that you covet the skill with which these lifeless forms navigate their circumstances, you're bound to get some strange looks. So, you keep it to yourself – for the most part. But honestly, there are…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain I'm a total pushover when it comes to stories of connection. I am delighted by accounts of barriers breaking down and disparate people uniting in purpose, of ideas coalescing and theories fusing to reveal the common threads that underlie diversity. As I look back upon the history of physics, what reaches…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain “Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas”. – Albert Einstein, (Obituary forEmmy Nother) The first time you encounter a truly dazzling idea, its light seems almost blinding; slowly, your eyes grow more accustomed, and the glare dulls down to a glow which pleasantly illuminates your outlook. At…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain There are some questions we just can't shake; the nature of space and time, or the identity of the building blocks of the universe; they pester us until we answer them, and then, as if on cue, the Universe proceeds to demonstrate the inadequacy of our proposed solutions. One such question,…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain Science is beautiful. Or so they say. When Werner Heisenberg, one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, made his major breakthrough, he wrote “the whole area of internal relations in atomic theory is unexpectedly and clearly spread out before my eyes. What these internal relations show in all their mathematic abstraction,…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain Over the past two years, the Higgs Boson has seeped into the popular consciousness, and with the announcement of this year's Nobel Prize, it is in the limelight once again. Yet, many people are still not quite sure what this particle is, and what, if anything, it has to do with…
by Tasneem Zehra Husain Upon winning the Nobel Prize, Peter Higgs expressed a hope that “this recognition of fundamental science will help raise awareness of the value of blue-sky research”. By this, he means curiosity driven research, with no definite goal, no expectation of a practical outcome; research fueled by questions like ‘why is the…