Alan Lightman

At 75 years old, Alan Lightman physical status not available right now. We will update Alan Lightman's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Lightman was a postdoctoral fellow in astrophysics at Cornell University (1974–1976); an assistant professor at Harvard University (1976–1979); a senior research scientist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (1979–1989); and then a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (1989– ). During this period he began publishing poetry in small magazines and eventually essays in Science 80, the Smithsonian, The New Yorker, and other magazines.

At MIT, in the mid 1990s Lightman chaired the committee that established the communication requirement for all undergraduates. In 2005, he was a cofounder of the Catalyst Collaborative at MIT, a partnership between MIT and Central Square Theater, in Cambridge, that sponsors plays involving science and the culture of science. In the same year, Lightman cofounded the graduate program in science writing at MIT.

Source

• Honorary doctoral degrees from Bowdoin College (2005), Memphis College of Art (2006), University of Maryland (2006), University of Massachusetts (2010), Colgate University (2017), and Skidmore College (2019)
• Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition on September 23, 2019, from the United States House of Representatives for contributions to the global Cambodian community.
• Inaugural winner of 2017 Humanism in Literature award, given by Humanist Hub of Harvard
• 2016 Distinguished Artist of the Year Award from the St. Botolph Club of Boston
• 2016 Sydney Award for the best magazine essays of 2011, for "What Came Before the Big Bang?", awarded by David Brooks of The New York Times
• Screening Room (2015) named by the Washington Post as one of the best books of the year
• 2011 Sydney Award for the best magazine essays of 2011, for "The Accidental Universe," awarded by David Brooks of The New York Times
• Gold Medal for humanitarian service to Cambodia, awarded by the government of Cambodia in 2008
• 2006 John P. McGovern Science and Society Award, given by Sigma Xi
• Finalist for the 2005 Massachusetts Book Award for A Sense of the Mysterious
• 2003 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the California Institute of Technology
• Finalist for the 2000 National Book Award in fiction for The Diagnosis
• 1998 Gyorgy Kepes Prize in the Arts from MIT’s Council for the Arts
• Elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996
• American Institute of Physics Andrew Gemant Award for linking science to the humanities in 1996
• Literary Light of the Boston Public Library in 1995
• 1990 Association of American Publishers’ Award for Origins as the best book of the year in physical science