This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato.

Nobel physicist Merigel Mann died recently at the age of 89.

He was known for his thoughts about quantum mechanics, especially particles like quarks, which he named,

and his love of creativity and interdisciplinary thought.

We're opening up the sci-fri vault to bring you a conversation I had

with him back in August of 1994. It all came together in a rainforest in Belize. Theoretical physicist

Murray Galman was strolling through the forest, wondering how quantum mechanics, a fundamental

tenet of physics, how quantum mechanics could explain

individuality. In other words, if all matter is made up of the same basic stuff, how can the

universe be filled with such diversity? Well, in the middle of his musings, Dr. Gellman looked up

and saw a wild Jaguarundi standing on the trail about 100 yards ahead of him.

And somehow, the sight of this sleek, black, wild cat triggered something in Gelman's brain.

One of those, you know, you know, those eureka moments when the light bulb suddenly lights up and then suddenly he could really see the

connections between the simple and the complex.

In this hour, we're going to ask Dr. Gilman to share his insights with us and to explain how

quantum physics can form the basis for biological evolution, the development of human

society and language, and even creative thought,

is the universe essentially comprehensible, and can we ever hope to understand how it all works?

Murray Galman is a professor emeritus of theoretical physics at the California Institute of

Technology in Pasadena. He won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1969. He's the author of the new book,

The Quark and the Jaguar, published by Freeman and Company, and he's one of the co-founders of the

Santa Fe Institute, a think tank for scientists who take a transdisciplinary approach to understanding

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