By Alison Baugh

January 25, 2007 | Finding something you are passionate about and doing something you love was the message of Alan Lightman's speech at the Arts and Lecture series Wednesday afternoon.

The message was conveyed not only in a command, but was shown through Lightman's sharing of his own life

Lightman is known for being not only a novelist and essayist, but also a physicist and an educator. As a young boy he was interested in writing and poetry, and also in science and physics. Early on in his life his grandfather passed away and he expressed his grief by writing a poem. When he read this to his grandmother he was shocked when after telling him it was wonderful she started to cry.

"How could marks on a white sheet of paper create this emotion and force?" Lightman questioned.

His love for writing poetry and doing science experiments including experimenting with rocket fuels and a Brownie camera flash bulb continued throughout high school And when the results of the science experiments weren't what Lightman was hoping for he found another joy in mathematics.

To him math problems were "like bites of chocolate cake," saved until all other homework was done.

Combining the joy he found in writing and other arts and science Lightman has been able to live in what he calls two different communities for most of his life. As such he has been able to observe the differences and similarities between the two.

The way they look at the world is the main difference between scientists and artist said Lightman. Scientists like to name and define things while artists, especially novelists, like to portray the feelings by showing in more than words.

Lightman used the example that "every electron is identical, but every love is different."

Artists focus on the fact that maybe every question doesn't have an answer while scientists only follow up on questions that will end in a definite answer said Lightman as the next difference. While there is the difference between the two groups, according to Lightman human nature leads everyone to have both being a part of their life.

It is this "tension" between the two to which this novelist attributed his writing and inspiration. Both require you to be creative and this is the main similarity Lightman has seen in his life.

Truth must be present in both the arts and the sciences or else they will hold no validity with their audiences. Lightman's example included a situation and the possible endings, but showing that some solutions wouldn't be believable, even if the book was a work of fiction. Science can't come up with a new idea that goes against the present truths and it is this area of truth in which the two are connected.

While the arts and science vary, Lightman took his own advice to heart and found a way to connect the things in life he was passionate about.

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