“Very early I understood that what was taught in the textbooks had a provincial side, without imagination, which lacked air,” wrote Hubert Reeves, friendly scientist who always pleased me. Crowned with success in all his endeavors and his numerous reconversions, he has always remained faithful to himself without ever taking himself seriously — which, in my opinion, is a major sign of genius.
His Life
Born on July 13, 1932 in Montreal and died on October 13, 2023 in Paris 13th, this Franco-Canadian astrophysicist of Quebec origin was also a scientific popularizer as clear as exciting. His two most well-known and appreciated works are Stardust and Patience in the Azure.
Enrolled in the Faculty of Science at the Université de Montréal, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in physics (1953), then presented a master’s thesis entitled Formation of Positronium in Hydrogen and Helium (1955) at McGill University. He is pursuing his studies in nuclear astrophysics at Cornell University. In 1960, he defended his doctoral thesis, entitled ‘Thermonuclear Reaction Involving Medium Light Nuclei’. He begins his career in the years 19-0 as a researcher in astrophysics.
From the 1970s, he successfully practices scientific popularization. Dividing his time between France and Quebec, Reeves became an environmental activist in the early 2000s.
His great clarity of mind and even greater modesty deserve to be humbly praised this honest man.
His Books
Stardust
I was told: you are nothing but ashes and dust. They forgot to tell me that it was star dust.
This book would like to be an ode to the Universe. I tried to pay tribute to its splendor and intelligibility,
to express both his creativity and his wealth.
I wanted to give something to contemplate. And to understand.
Very early I understood that what we were taught in the textbooks
had a provincial side, without imagination, which lacked air.
Patience in the azure
Patience, patience,
Patience in the azure!
Each atom of silence
Is the luck of a ripe fruit!
Paul Valéry, lying on the warm sand of a lagoon, looks at the sky. In his field of vision, palm trees sway limply, ripening their fruits. He is attentive to the weather that quietly does its work. This listening can be applied to the universe. Over time, cosmic gestation takes place. Every second, the universe prepares something. He slowly ascends the steps of complexity.
In a few decades, we will no longer be, but our atoms will always exist, continuing elsewhere the development of the world.
If the night were not dark, there would be no one to realize it.
Our universe expands like a puff of air in the oven, a pudding with grapes, into a space that it creates itself.
The universe is a machine to make consciousness.
On an astronomical scale, light progresses at a turtle’s pace. The news it brings us is no longer fresh at all!
In science as elsewhere, intellectual inertia, fashion, the weight of institutions and authoritarianism are always to be feared.
His Quotes
Reeves took it all
The drama of human existence is having to give up one day being in the light.
Heresies play an essential role. They keep the spirits on high alert.
Correctly estimating one’s degree of ignorance is a healthy and necessary step.
The question is not whether God exists or not. But rather: who is He, and what does He play?
Becoming an adult is recognizing, without suffering too much, that Santa Claus does not exist.
It is learning to live in doubt and uncertainty.
Becoming an adult is developing, through experiences,
his own philosophy, his own morality. Avoid ready-to-think.
All philosophy is inseparable from the emotional world from which it emerges.
Her interest comes from the fact that she testifies to a human experience,
of a meeting of an inner world with the outer world.
Things are what they are because they were what they were…
No one knows exactly what things are like when you’re not looking at them.
Do numbers have a mode of existence outside the mind of the one who thinks them?
To make the most of the knowledge acquired, to extract all the wealth,
it is important not to get used to it too quickly, to allow yourself time for surprise and astonishment.
As the pregnant woman does not know what her belly is preparing,
we do not know what wonders can still arise from the development of cosmic complexity.
Reeves said it all
The man is an accident of course, in an empty and cold cosmos. He is a child of chance.
Observing is disruptive.
Space takes the shape of my gaze
To look “far” is to look “early”.
Currently, man is waging a war against nature. If he wins, he is lost.
The man is crazy. He adores an invisible God and destroys a visible nature,
unconscious that the Nature he destroys is the God he worships.
The words “harmful species” and “weeds” are only the reflection of a secularly rooted prejudice,
according to which plants and animals are there to serve us or rejoice us,
and that we have a discretionary right over them.
These words are the direct translation of our egocentrism (or anthropocentrism),
of our ignorance and our narrow-mindedness.
Animals considered harmful are only by us,
and it is the same for the so-called bad herbs.
In reality, we are only one species among many others.
When we abuse a species, we abuse ourselves.
To explore the field of possibilities, DIY is the most effective method.
Reeves made it clear
If the night were not dark, there would be no one to realize it.
Heresies play an essential role. They keep the spirits on high alert.
Correctly estimating one’s degree of ignorance is a healthy and necessary step.
Do numbers have a mode of existence outside the mind of the one who thinks them?
Distinguish between the ‘reasonable’ and the ‘rational’. The first includes intuition and affective.
The second implies only a correct execution of the logical process.
Reeves made it clearer
Who would be bold enough to affirm that we know and perceive all the forces,
all the waves and all the means of communication?
Our universe expands like a puff of air in the oven, a pudding with grapes, into a space that it creates itself.
In science as elsewhere, intellectual inertia, fashion,
the weight of institutions and authoritarianism are always to be feared.
To make the most of the knowledge acquired, to extract all the wealth,
important not to get used to it too quickly, to let oneself have the time of surprise and astonishment.
Modern science is an admirable monument that honors the human species
and which compensates (a little) for the immensity of his warlike stupidity.
On the cosmic scale, liquid water is rarer than gold.
Disasters ‘happen’. Then, they ‘happened’. And we move on.
Remember Reeves
His pale blue eyes
Piercing the skies
Are tough and tight.
His golden mind
One of a kind
Is vaste and bright.
His subtle talk
Whiter than chalk
Noble and light.
Cosmology
- Reeves Get It All
- The Egg of Planck
- The Hologram Universe
- The Cosmic Waves
- Sagittarius A*
- Multiple Realities
- Brane Worlds
- Five Possible Worlds
- Big Bang and Black Holes
- The Walls Of The Glass Jar
