On The Shoulders of Giants...

Full 60-minute program: Each generation benefits from the insights and discoveries of those who came before. “If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants,” wrote Isaac Newton. In a new annual series, World Science Festival audiences are invited to stand on the shoulders of modern-day giants. For this year’s inaugural address, “The Future of Big Science,” Nobel laureate and physicist Steven Weinberg considers the future of fundamental physics, especially as funding for basic research is reduced. Weinberg will explore physics’ small origins, starting with the discovery of the atomic nucleus 100 years ago by a single scientist, and moving to the present-day, when collaborations involve hundreds of researchers and billions of dollars. What has motivated this growth spurt? What results has it yielded? And what would we stand to lose if Big Science were to suffer? Weinberg, one of the most revered voices in science, offers a distinguished vantage point for this crucial discussion.

Director, Theory Research Group and Jack S. Josey-Welch Foundation Chair in Science Regental Professor, University of Texas at Austin Nobel Laureate, Physics .

Steven Weinberg is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin. His honors include the Nobel Prize in Physics and National Medal of Science, election to numerous academies, and sixteen honorary doctoral degrees. In 2004 he received the Benjamin Franklin Medal of the American Philosophical Society, with a citation that said he is "considered by many to be the preeminent theoretical physicist alive in the world today."