These two films explore
the development of Sir Roger Penrose’s thought over more than 60 years, ending
with his most recent theories and predictions.
In the first film, Roger
Penrose explains the impact of his time at Cambridge in the 1950s. The
interview brings out his highly unconventional choice of subjects for deep
study, which completely ignored the boundary between ‘pure’ and ‘applied’
mathematics. Those familiar with his world-leading development of relativity
theory in the 1960s may be surprised to learn how much he was influenced by
quantum theory in the 1950s, and also by the early origin of his new ideas.
Roger also explains the
influence of Dirac, Sciama and other leading figures of the 1950s, and goes on
to characterise the emergence of twistor theory. Non-experts will be interested to
hear how the ideas of his best-known work, The Emperor’s New Mind, also
had an origin in this early period. He also adds
fascinating detail about the psychology of mathematical discovery, explaining
how he was very slow at school, needing extra time to think issues through for
himself. The mystery of time, in physics
and human consciousness, runs through the entire conversation, and lights up
even the most technical aspects of the discussion.
In the second film, the
emphasis shifts to the recent developments in Roger Penrose’s thought. He gives
a very clear outline of his argument for Conformal Cyclic Cosmology as the
correct description of the Big Bang. However, the conversation turns once
again to the precursors of these ideas in the 1950s, with new anecdotes about
Dirac and the origin of Roger Penrose’s geometrical innovations.
Bringing the discussion up to the
present moment, Roger describes the impact of recent observations of
primordial magnetic fields and also addresses the significance of his own
predictions for the form of ‘dark matter’. And in a closing segment, the
discussion turns to the current discoveries in neurology and biophysics
relevant to Roger Penrose’s theory of microtubules as advanced in Shadows of
the Mind. The discussion ends tantalisingly with renewed speculation on the
foundations of quantum mechanics and its relation to general relativity.
Roger concludes: "to me eternity is not such a long time."
