Robert Jastrow, one of the noted astronomers of our time and, as it happens, a former professor of mine at Dartmouth, died earlier this year. This is my overdue tribute to his life and work.
Jastrow was one of the great popularizers of science. One of his books, Red Giants and White Dwarfs, became a national bestseller and conveyed to a whole generation of Americans the excitment and mystery of space exploration. When American astronauts landed on the moon, Jastrow provided expert commentary for the TV networks covering the event.
But Jastrow never permitted popularization to get in the way of serious professional accomplishment. After getting his doctorate in physics from Columbia, he became head of the theoretical divison at NASA. Later he was appointed head of the Goddard Space Institute. In 1992 he became chairman of Mount Wilson Observatory in California.
In addition to medals for scientific achivement, Jastrow also won acclaim as a gifted teacher. At Dartmouth, I always found him friendly and accessible. Later our paths crossed because Jastrow became an energetic and resourceful defender of President Reagan's strategic missile defense initiative, dubbed by its critics as "Star Wars."
While critics like physicist Hans Bethe said Star Wars would never work, the Russians agreed with Jastrow that it would, and they desperately sought to outlaw it. (Obviously if the Russians felt it was a boondoggle they would have supported it, since this would be a great way to waste America's defense budget.) In his last years Jastrow became increasingly skeptical of claims that global warming is destroying the planet. He saw global warming as an effort to exploit science for ideological ends.
One of Jastrow's gems is a little book called God and the Astronomers in which Jastrow, although himself an agnostic, made a startling argument. He argued that "the astronomical evience leads to a biblical view of the origin of the world." Jastrow not only documents his claim but shows why leading scientists including Einstein resisted the new discoveries, because they threatened the dogma that scientific laws enjoy eternal validity. Jastrow showed that in reality the laws of physics themselves came into existence with the Big Bang; beyond or apart from our universe, there are no such laws.
Jastrow's story reads like a detective novel, with the only difference that the facts he recounts are true. And here is his stunning conclusion: "For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 36)
1. I once had a winning speech in a tall tail contest. I am most glad you were not among the competition.
Jerry Brown at 12:41AM on Jul 1st 2008
2. Have fun with this one, guys!
Robert at 12:45AM on Jul 1st 2008
3. Jastrow showed that in reality the laws of physics themselves came into existence with the Big Bang; beyond or apart from our universe, there are no such laws.
xxx
Then along comes Witten....
Interestingly the collider that's creating the current brouhaha is looking for some things (the higgs boson, a new dimension or more) that indicate how much farther cosmology has gone beyond that statement, that the 'big bang' was the 'beginning'.
I don't think anyone disagrees that the physics of this universe took shape very shortly after its inception, but that's a universe away from anything remotely approaching biblical creation except in the minds of the extremely romantic or fanciful.
There was a bit of a gap between the 'bang' and the end of the planetary accretion that resulted in our planet, for instance.
Clif Kuplen at 1:04AM on Jul 1st 2008
4. DoubleD, your final sentence shows the decline into mediocrity of Jastrows life, when he fell into ignorance "...greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."
JefFlyingV at 1:32AM on Jul 1st 2008
5. It's the science not the scientist.
While he sounds like he had some accomplishments he never accomplished ridding himself of his CULTure of a mythical god.
The beauty of the peer reviewed scientific method is that it permits science to proceed even if the scientist is a whack job faith head.
It's sad when one of our teachers die. It's sad when a human dies. It is existence however. Have your visions of heaven if you want, that's up to you, just don't pretend that it's real for then you're not just attempting to fool yourself but your attempting to fool others too and that is where the danger of accepting faith based beliefs comes in.
Peter at 1:46AM on Jul 1st 2008
6. I suppose they were mummified theologians like the monk in Thailand.
Peter at 1:47AM on Jul 1st 2008
7. Mummified Monk in Thailand is Real.
http://images.google.ca/images?q=mummified+monk+thailand
Peter at 1:51AM on Jul 1st 2008
8. At least he has that going for him.
Peter at 1:52AM on Jul 1st 2008
9. It's also worth noting that Star Wars couldn't work and it didn't work: DD neglects to mention the little part about how it was revealed a number of years after that first impressive demo of a gadget matching speed with something else flying in a lab environment that it was all faked. This was billions of dollars later down the drain.
So if Jastrow thought it would work... that's not a point for him. If he didn't think that global warming was real, well, it looks like he's got a track record of being wrong about things that are outside of his field.
And we can trust Dinesh to squeeze in something about God every time. I'm sorry for anyone with a belief so tenuous and a God so puny that followers have to bang their drum so loudly and continuously to drown out any possible objection. It's sad, it really is.
John Hedtke at 1:53AM on Jul 1st 2008
10. Dinesh D'Souza: "[Jastrow] argued that "the astronomical evience leads to a biblical view of the origin of the world. Jastrow not only documents his claim but shows why leading scientists including Einstein resisted the new discoveries, because they threatened the dogma that scientific laws enjoy eternal validity. Jastrow showed that in reality the laws of physics themselves came into existence with the Big Bang; beyond or apart from our universe, there are no such laws."
It very well may be - as I've said a number of times - that the laws of nature came into existence with the big bang. Nothing new or revolutionary about that.
However to say "beyond or apart from our universe, there are no such laws" is to go off the deep end into no man's land.
It may be that there is a multiverse and it likely is that there isn't. Current evidence doesn't lend any support to the claim that anything existed outside of the singularity that was at zero plus when the big bang occurred. There is no evidence to suggest an outside to the universe with any laws of physics at all. There are hypothesized ideas but not and facts to support them. We may never know however what is suggestive is that the universe - spacetime - was compressed into an infinity tiny space known as a singularity. Without time or space there can't be any laws of the universe for your god to exist immaterially or whatever. Thus the evidence seems to exclude the possibility of an outside of the universe. Time may tell as we learn more facts about the big bang, then again we may never know which is fine unless you want to use FAITH to jump to conclusions as you always to Dinesh.
By the way Dinesh, I'm sorry to hear that your teacher died. Recently I learned that one of my teachers may have passed away and I'm in the process of attempting to find out.
Peter at 2:05AM on Jul 1st 2008
11. ATHEISM: A CATASTROPHIC FAILURE
http://evolutionfacts.blogspot.com
RICHARD DAWKINS at 2:41AM on Jul 1st 2008
12. OVER 90% OF Astro-Physicists Belief in God
http://www.evolutionfacts.blogspot.com
ISAAC ASIMOV at 2:45AM on Jul 1st 2008
13. There was a bit of a gap between the 'bang' and the end of the planetary accretion that resulted in our planet, for instance.
>>
Actually, there is only an infantestimal gap. The physics that made accreation inevitble was created by the Bang. Think of the BB as a one armed bandit. The bang is the moment before the wheels of slot machine come to a stop and click into place. The order of the wheels determined the physics of this universe. The laws of this universe seem intentionally balanced to 'allow' life, and it drives atheist crazy ... crazier.
Thomas J Gassett at 4:06AM on Jul 1st 2008
14. Wow, it's really sad that you (DD) can't even write a tribute without hitting the standard talking point.
Ryan Anderson at 4:12AM on Jul 1st 2008
15. However to say "beyond or apart from our universe, there are no such laws" is to go off the deep end into no man's land.>>
Actually, he's right on the cutting edge of what we think we know.
It may be that there is a multiverse and it likely is that there isn't. >>
The theory that the BB created many, perhaps an infinite number of universe is offered by those looking for an answer to the obvious design to our universe that isn't a Creator. Those that understand our universe the best say the odds of this universe happening in one throw of the dices is simply too long to be credible.
The idea is that the only way this universe could be an 'accident' is IF infinite universes were created by the BB and this one really odd one was inevitable instead of designed. The evidence stands that if this is the only universe it must have been designed for life.
Current evidence doesn't lend any support to the claim that anything existed outside of the singularity that was at zero plus when the big bang occurred.>>
There will never, nor could there ever be evidence for anything outside this universe ... for the simple reason we could never find the edge of this universe ... let alone look beyond. If we traveled fast enough and long enough, we would return to where we began, not pass through this verse into another.
Thomas J Gassett at 4:25AM on Jul 1st 2008