About the Author
I was born and grew up in Indiana, in the American Midwest, and was
curious about the workings of nature from a young age. My dedica-
tion to school and the sciences really started in college, and I began
my studies there with chemistry. Soon I was drawn into the study of
physics and mathematics—inspired by a physics professor, Marshall
Dixon, as well as by my cousin, Scott—and added those subjects into
the mix. By the time I graduated from Butler University, I was head
over heels in love with Einstein’s general theory of relativity and
moved west to attend graduate school at the California Institute of
Technology.
Concurrently, I became interested in the philosophical foundations
of science—just exactly what do we mean by reality, and how are we
able to derive what we believe to be truths about it? How is it that Ein-
stein, sitting in his room, can discover—or invent—a theory describ-
ing the entire universe? What human capacity makes this possible?
What is the nature of our mind?
During my first year studying theoretical physics at Caltech, I heard
about an elder scientist in the biology department who was interested
in how the extraordinary capacities of the human mind had evolved.
Moreover, this fellow was planning to teach a biophysics class in