Big Think Unveils Its Latest Video Series MOMENTS OF GENIUS
Today marks the first installment of Big Think’s newest video interview series, Moments of Genius, sponsored by Intel. Big Think sat down with math and science thought leaders — from the inventor of the very first portable cell phone, to the man who turned HIV into a manageable disease — to figure out when and how their passions were born. This first set of video interviews features Martin Cooper, inventor of the cell phone; David Ho, the AIDS researcher famous for pioneering combination therapy in treating HIV-infected patients; and Arlie Petters, a mathematical physicist at Duke who is out to prove the existence of a fifth dimension.
In his segment, Martin Cooper
delves into the story behind the creation of the first portable cell phone. He says the idea for the device arose after talking to the Superintendent of Police in Chicago, who saw the shortcomings with car phones, which were then the only portable devices available. “Giving people communications in their vehicles: even then, it’s not much better than being tied to your desk. You’re still trapped in your car,” says Cooper. His mission: to put the device on the person. Cooper also discusses his early science education, and says he believes that if we treat science education like a game, more students will find it interesting.
delves into the story behind the creation of the first portable cell phone. He says the idea for the device arose after talking to the Superintendent of Police in Chicago, who saw the shortcomings with car phones, which were then the only portable devices available. “Giving people communications in their vehicles: even then, it’s not much better than being tied to your desk. You’re still trapped in your car,” says Cooper. His mission: to put the device on the person. Cooper also discusses his early science education, and says he believes that if we treat science education like a game, more students will find it interesting.David Ho reflects upon what it was like coming into contact with the very first cases of HIV/AIDS in the United States. Looking back on the moment, he says that his AP math education was what helped him calculate what the turnover of virus was in a given infected person. That, in turn, helped him and his fellow researchers to understand that HIV was to be treated by a number of different drugs working together. Today, this standard approach is called “combination therapy.”
Arlie Petters
is a mathematical physicist and professor at Duke University. He says he discovered his love for math while while gazing at the night sky as a boy growing up in Belize. Without the help of a formal education, Petters had to teach himself math and science. “With being self-taught, mathematics is such a rigorous and in some ways unforgiving medium that it allows you to quickly see when you are going down wrong paths,” he says. This early passion is what led him to propose the existence of a fifth dimension, which, if proven, would disprove the findings of one of his greatest role models, Albert Einstein.
is a mathematical physicist and professor at Duke University. He says he discovered his love for math while while gazing at the night sky as a boy growing up in Belize. Without the help of a formal education, Petters had to teach himself math and science. “With being self-taught, mathematics is such a rigorous and in some ways unforgiving medium that it allows you to quickly see when you are going down wrong paths,” he says. This early passion is what led him to propose the existence of a fifth dimension, which, if proven, would disprove the findings of one of his greatest role models, Albert Einstein.Moments of Genius will run for the next eight Tuesdays. Get exclusive insight into the fascinating minds of some of the world’s greatest math and science thinkers at momentsofgenius. This series is sponsored by Intel.
Bigthink.com features more than 9,000 video interviews with the world’s leading thinkers, from Nobel laureates to prime ministers.
Chief Blonde Remarks: As we Blondes are BIG THINKERS–we throughly enjoyed this site. Genius and the study thereof is SOOOOOOOOO fascinating. Hey watching this beats a night of mindless reality TV and sitcoms anyday!
Blog Note: Blogger was not paid nor provided product for posting of this material.