I went to college because my father thought that I should learn engineering, because he wanted to go into the heating business with me. There, I realized I wanted to be a physicist. I had to tell him, which was a somewhat traumatic experience. Leonard Susskind businesscollegeengineer share on social
I'm a great believer that scientists should spend as much time as possible explaining, and you do explain in the process of teaching. Leonard Susskind believerexplaingreat Change image and share on social
The success of ordinary cosmology speaks against the idea that the universe was created in a random fluctuation. Leonard Susskind cosmologycreatefluctuation Change image and share on social
Space can vibrate, space can fluctuate, space can be quantum mechanical, but what the devil is it? And, you know, everybody has their own idea about what it is, but there's no coherent final consensus on why there is space. Leonard Susskind coherentconsensusdevil share on social
A lot of my research time is spent daydreaming - telling an imaginary admiring audience of laymen how to understand some difficult scientific idea. Leonard Susskind admireaudiencedaydream Change image and share on social
I often feel a discomfort, a kind of embarrassment, when I explain elementary-particle physics to laypeople. It all seems so arbitrary - the ridiculous collection of fundamental particles, the lack of pattern to their masses. Leonard Susskind arbitrarycollectiondiscomfort share on social
The word 'universe' is obviously not intended to have a plural, but science has evolved in such a way that we need a plural noun for something similar to what we ordinarily call our universe. Leonard Susskind callevolveintend Change image and share on social
Man - life in general - seems irrelevant to the workings of the universe: a mere smudge of water, grease, and carbon on a pinpoint planet circling a star of no special consequence. Leonard Susskind carboncircleconsequence Change image and share on social
Physics is perceived as a lonesome, nerdy kind of enterprise that has very little to do with human feelings and the things that excite people day-to-day about each other. Yet physicists in their own working environment are very social creatures. Leonard Susskind creaturedayenterprise share on social
I'm a great believer in our ability to come up with the ideas necessary to solve the big questions. I have less confidence that we'll be able to find a consensus about which ones are right without experiment. Leonard Susskind abilitybelieverbig share on social