Lisa Randall

“I was always good at math, but I was good at everything. It sounds obnoxious, but I was just smart. In school, it's kind of obvious when you're learning things faster than other kids.”

“If you look through the shelves of science books, you'll find row after row of books written by men. This can be terribly off-putting for women.”

“Travel at faster than the speed of light certainly can have dramatic implications that are difficult to understand, such as time travel.”

“If you are a responsible scientist, you are going to present your new results in a paper, and maybe if, over time, things are established, and it's prime time for the public to hear about it, then you include it in a book.”

“Scientific research involves going beyond the well-trodden and well-tested ideas and theories that form the core of scientific knowledge. During the time scientists are working things out, some results will be right, and others will be wrong. Over time, the right results will emerge.”

“Organized religion and musicals present tenets to live by that don't entirely make sense but, on the whole, make people who believe them secure, thus giving an appearance of inclusiveness.”

“I can be a good listener. I can ask the right questions a lot of the time.”

“There are women for whom family is a priority, and they do it. It just wasn't as much a priority for me.”

“The process of science is difficult and challenging. It involves always being aware that your ideas might be right or they might be wrong. I think it's that kind of balance that makes science so interesting.”

“People who dismiss science in favor of religion sometimes confuse the challenge of rigorously understanding the world with a deliberate intellectual exclusion that leads them to mistrust scientists and, to their detriment, what they discover.”

“Religion can have psychological and social roles, but in terms of really explaining how things work, science works differently. Science is based on material elements at the core.”

“I don't necessarily make much art myself, but after I wrote 'Warped Passages,' I was fortunate to get involved a little in the art world. I got invited to write a libretto for what we called a projective opera, and I also got invited to curate an art exhibit.”

“In fairness, I don't think that everyone understands what I say, but I think they understand part of it and part of what the issues are... Just the same way that people like a good painting, I think people really like understanding, knowing about the world.”

“For me, the most absorbing films are those that address big questions and real ideas but embody them in small examples that we can appreciate and comprehend.”

“I would say it's important for scientists to speak out when they can and when they can be listened to.”

“I really like that my work is getting more people interested in science.”

“Scientific experiments are expensive, and people are entitled to know about them if they want to. I think it is very difficult to convey ideas.”

“I do try to do high-impact work, and I try to think of ideas people haven't thought about that have broad implications, but I don't restrict myself to that. I try to work on things that I find interesting.”

“I don't think we have reached a point where art really translates into science. Perhaps for some people, having good visuals can help translate into science.”

“A musical, like most religions, provides the audience or followers with a sense of belonging. Religious services, on the other hand, with their staged performances, invigorating songs, popular wisdom and shared experience, are almost a form of community theater.”