up.
"Should
we leave it here?" he asked.
Elisa
stopped to consider the other alternative. She hated the idea of
leaving this little Eden to get back on that awful bus. Besides, over
the past few months she'd been living in her own world, and now that
she was finally talking to someone (someone who respected her as a
person and didn't just think she was a brilliant student or a cute
girl), she realized that she actually needed the company. "I
still have a little time," she said. A few minutes later,
Maldonado interrupted once more to warn her that she was going to
miss her bus. She appreciated his polite concern. And told him to
continue. He didn't remind her again.
Elisa
felt totally at ease chatting away with him. She answered questions
about why she studied physics, what the department was like, whether
it was a friendly atmosphere, and about her infinite passion for the
natural world. Maldonado let her blather on, jotting down a few
things here and there as she spoke. At one point, he said, "You
know, you don't really fit my image of a scientist. Not at all."
"Oh?
And what's your image of a scientist?"
Maldonado
considered the question.
"An
ugly dude."
"Well,
I can assure you that there are some cute ones, too. And not all of
them are 'dudes.'" She smiled. But he'd turned serious and
stopped joking.
"There's
something else that intrigues me about you. You're at the top of your
class, you're guaranteed a scholarship to the best place in the
world, your future couldn't be brighter... As if that weren't enough,
you just finished college and you could ... I don't know, sleep for
twenty hours straight, climb the Alps, do anything you wanted. But
instead, you march right out and take a killer exam to get one of
twenty spots in David Blanes's summer course. I mean, this Blanes guy
must be pretty spectacular."
"He
is." Elisa's eyes lit up. "He's a genius."
Maldonado
scribbled something down.
"Do
you know him personally?"
"No,
but I admire his work."
"Most
public universities in this country hate him. Did you know that?
That's why he had to teach this course at a private institution..."
"The
world is full of envious people," Elisa said. "Especially
the world of science. But, yeah, I've heard that Blanes can be
difficult."
"Would
you like to do a dissertation on him?"
"Obviously."
"Anything
else?"
"What?"
"I
asked you if you'd like to do a dissertation on him and you said,
'Obviously.' Is that all you have to say?"
"What
else do you want me to say? You asked me a question and I answered
it."
"That's
the problem with you physicists," he lamented, making more
notes. "You take everything so literally. What I wanted to know
is, what's Blanes got that everyone's so into him? I mean ... I know
they say he's a fucking genius, he's been nominated for the Nobel
Prize, and if he wins he'll be the first Spaniard to win the damn
Nobel in physics. I know all that shit. But what I want to know is,
what's his deal? You know? His course is called..." He looked at
one of his papers and read, falteringly, "'The topology of time
strings in visible electromagnetic radiation.' That doesn't exactly
clear a lot up for me."
"You
want me to sum up the whole of theoretical physics to you with one
answer?"
Maldonado
seemed to seriously weigh the possibility.
"OK,"
he replied.
"Fine.
Let's see. I'll try to summarize..." Elisa was in her element.
She liked explaining as much as she liked understanding. "You
know about the theory of relativity?"
"Yeah,
Einstein. 'Everything is relative,' right?"
"The
theory of relativity is a little more complicated than that. But what
I'm trying to say is that it works in almost every situation, except
in the world of atoms. That's where quantum physics comes in.
Together, those theories are the most perfect intellectual creations
humans have ever conceived. They can explain almost anything.
But the problem is, we need both of
them. What's valid on one scale doesn't work on the other, and vice
versa.
"Should
we leave it here?" he asked.
Elisa
stopped to consider the other alternative. She hated the idea of
leaving this little Eden to get back on that awful bus. Besides, over
the past few months she'd been living in her own world, and now that
she was finally talking to someone (someone who respected her as a
person and didn't just think she was a brilliant student or a cute
girl), she realized that she actually needed the company. "I
still have a little time," she said. A few minutes later,
Maldonado interrupted once more to warn her that she was going to
miss her bus. She appreciated his polite concern. And told him to
continue. He didn't remind her again.
Elisa
felt totally at ease chatting away with him. She answered questions
about why she studied physics, what the department was like, whether
it was a friendly atmosphere, and about her infinite passion for the
natural world. Maldonado let her blather on, jotting down a few
things here and there as she spoke. At one point, he said, "You
know, you don't really fit my image of a scientist. Not at all."
"Oh?
And what's your image of a scientist?"
Maldonado
considered the question.
"An
ugly dude."
"Well,
I can assure you that there are some cute ones, too. And not all of
them are 'dudes.'" She smiled. But he'd turned serious and
stopped joking.
"There's
something else that intrigues me about you. You're at the top of your
class, you're guaranteed a scholarship to the best place in the
world, your future couldn't be brighter... As if that weren't enough,
you just finished college and you could ... I don't know, sleep for
twenty hours straight, climb the Alps, do anything you wanted. But
instead, you march right out and take a killer exam to get one of
twenty spots in David Blanes's summer course. I mean, this Blanes guy
must be pretty spectacular."
"He
is." Elisa's eyes lit up. "He's a genius."
Maldonado
scribbled something down.
"Do
you know him personally?"
"No,
but I admire his work."
"Most
public universities in this country hate him. Did you know that?
That's why he had to teach this course at a private institution..."
"The
world is full of envious people," Elisa said. "Especially
the world of science. But, yeah, I've heard that Blanes can be
difficult."
"Would
you like to do a dissertation on him?"
"Obviously."
"Anything
else?"
"What?"
"I
asked you if you'd like to do a dissertation on him and you said,
'Obviously.' Is that all you have to say?"
"What
else do you want me to say? You asked me a question and I answered
it."
"That's
the problem with you physicists," he lamented, making more
notes. "You take everything so literally. What I wanted to know
is, what's Blanes got that everyone's so into him? I mean ... I know
they say he's a fucking genius, he's been nominated for the Nobel
Prize, and if he wins he'll be the first Spaniard to win the damn
Nobel in physics. I know all that shit. But what I want to know is,
what's his deal? You know? His course is called..." He looked at
one of his papers and read, falteringly, "'The topology of time
strings in visible electromagnetic radiation.' That doesn't exactly
clear a lot up for me."
"You
want me to sum up the whole of theoretical physics to you with one
answer?"
Maldonado
seemed to seriously weigh the possibility.
"OK,"
he replied.
"Fine.
Let's see. I'll try to summarize..." Elisa was in her element.
She liked explaining as much as she liked understanding. "You
know about the theory of relativity?"
"Yeah,
Einstein. 'Everything is relative,' right?"
"The
theory of relativity is a little more complicated than that. But what
I'm trying to say is that it works in almost every situation, except
in the world of atoms. That's where quantum physics comes in.
Together, those theories are the most perfect intellectual creations
humans have ever conceived. They can explain almost anything.
But the problem is, we need both of
them. What's valid on one scale doesn't work on the other, and vice
versa.
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