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In the history of physics, every time we've looked beyond the scales and energies we were familiar with, we've found things that we wouldn't have thought were there.
LISA RANDALL, Discover Magazine, July 2006
Most people think of "seeing" and "observing" directly with their senses. But for physicists, these words refer to much more indirect measurements involving a train of theoretical logic by which we can interpret what is "seen."
LISA RANDALL, New York Times, Sep. 18, 2005
It's hubris to think that the way we see things is everything there is.
LISA RANDALL, Discover Magazine, July 2006
Although I was first drawn to math and science by the certainty they promised, today I find the unanswered questions and the unexpected connections at least as attractive.
LISA RANDALL, Warped Passages
When people try to use religion to address the natural world, science pushes back on it, and religion has to accomodate the results. Beliefs can be permanent, but beliefs can also be flexible. Personally, if I find out my belief is wrong, I change my mind. I think that's a good way to live.
LISA RANDALL, Discover Magazine, July 2006
Speculation and the exploration of ideas beyond what we know with certainty are what lead to progress.
LISA RANDALL, New York Times, Sep. 18, 2005
I think it's a problem that people are considered immoral if they're not religious. That's just not true.... If you do something for a religious reason, you do it because you'll be rewarded in an afterlife or in this world. That's not quite as good as something you do for purely generous reasons.
LISA RANDALL, Discover Magazine, July 2006
When it comes to the world around us, is there any choice but to explore?
LISA RANDALL, introduction, Warped Passages
Clearly people who want to believe that God can intervene to help them or alter the world at some point have to invoke nonscientific thinking. Even if science doesn't necessarily tell us why things happen, we do know how things move and interact. If God has no physical influence, things won't move. Even our thoughts, which ultimately rely on electrical signals moving in our brains, won't be affected.... If such external influences are intrinsic to religion, then logic and scientific thought dictate that there must be a mechanism by which this influence is transmitted. A religious or spiritual belief that involves an invisible undetectable force that nonetheless influences human actions and behavior or that of the world itself produces a situation in which a believer has no choice but to have faith and abandon logic--or simply not care.
LISA RANDALL, Knocking on Heaven's Door
Science is a combination of theory and experiment and the two together are how you make progress.
LISA RANDALL, interview, The Morning News, Feb. 9, 2006
Faith just doesn't have anything to do with what I'm doing as a scientist. It's nice if you can believe in God, because then you see more of a purpose in things. Even if you don't, though, it doesn't mean that there's no purpose. It doesn't mean that there's no goodness. I think that there's a virtue in being good in and of itself. I think that one can work with the world we have.
LISA RANDALL, Discover Magazine, Jul. 2006
One of the nice things about math and science is it's obvious, you get the answer or you don’t get the answer.
LISA RANDALL, interview, The Morning News, Feb. 9, 2006
Scientists actively approach the door to knowledge--the boundary of the domain of what we know. We question and explore and we change our views when facts and logic force us to do so. We are confident only in what we can verify through experiments or in what we can deduce from experimentally confirmed hypotheses.
LISA RANDALL, Knocking on Heaven's Door
You have to be careful when you use beauty as a guide. There are many theories people didn't think were beautiful at the time but did find beautiful later—and vice versa. I think simplicity is a good guide: The more economical a theory, the better.
LISA RANDALL, New Scientist, Jan. 26, 2013
Physics has entered a remarkable era. Ideas that were once the realm of science fiction are now entering our theoretical — and maybe even experimental — grasp. Brand-new theoretical discoveries about extra dimensions have irreversibly changed how particle physicists, astrophysicists, and cosmologists now think about the world. The sheer number and pace of discoveries tells us that we've most likely only scratched the surface of the wondrous possibilities that lie in store. Ideas have taken on a life of their own.
LISA RANDALL, Warped Passages
There are many aspects of time we just do not understand. That’s the thing about writing a popular book: You realize the things you understand because for those you can give a really simple explanation. But some things about time I just don’t know how to give simple explanations for, even though I can tell you mathematically what’s going on.
LISA RANDALL, interview, The Morning News, Feb. 9, 2006
The universe has its secrets. Extra dimensions of space might be one of them. If so, the universe has been hiding those dimensions, protecting them, keeping them coyly under wraps. From a casual glance, you would never suspect a thing.
LISA RANDALL, introduction, Warped Passages
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