But every day I go to work I'm making a bet that the universe is simple, symmetric, and aesthetically pleasing — a universe that we humans, with our limited perspective, will someday understand.

With something like Chernobyl, the public reaction was Oh, my God, science has really done wrong.

Both my parents instilled an interest in science and mathematics.

I played football and ran track in junior high, but by high school I was getting serious about my studies.

My name is George Smoot III, and I AM smarter than a fifth-grader.

There is no doubt that a parallel exists between the big bang as an event and the Christian notion of creation from nothing.

I think we all want to know where we came from and how we fit into the world, but some of us need to know how it all works in great detail.