Mario Livio (born 1945) is an
astrophysicistAstrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects such as galaxies, stars, planets, exoplanets, and the interstellar medium, as well as their...
and an author of works that popularize science and mathematics. He is currently an astronomer and head of public outreach at the
Space Telescope Science InstituteThe Space Telescope Science Institute is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope and for the James Webb Space Telescope...
, which operates the
Hubble Space TelescopeThe Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by the space shuttle in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Although not the first space telescope, the Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well-known as both a vital...
. He is perhaps best known for his book on the
irrational numberIn mathematics, an irrational number is any real number that is not a rational number—that is, it is a number which cannot be expressed as a fraction m/n, where m and n are integers, with n non-zero. Informally, this means numbers that cannot be represented as simple fractions...
phiIn mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio of the sum of the quantities to the larger quantity is equal to the ratio of the larger quantity to the smaller one. The golden ratio is an irrational mathematical constant, approximately 1.6180339887...
:
The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number (2002). The book won the Peano Prize and the International Pythagoras Prize for popular books on mathematics.
Born in
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
, Livio stayed with his grandparents when his mother and father were forced to flee the country for political reasons.
Mario Livio (born 1945) is an
astrophysicistAstrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects such as galaxies, stars, planets, exoplanets, and the interstellar medium, as well as their...
and an author of works that popularize science and mathematics. He is currently an astronomer and head of public outreach at the
Space Telescope Science InstituteThe Space Telescope Science Institute is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope and for the James Webb Space Telescope...
, which operates the
Hubble Space TelescopeThe Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by the space shuttle in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Although not the first space telescope, the Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well-known as both a vital...
. He is perhaps best known for his book on the
irrational numberIn mathematics, an irrational number is any real number that is not a rational number—that is, it is a number which cannot be expressed as a fraction m/n, where m and n are integers, with n non-zero. Informally, this means numbers that cannot be represented as simple fractions...
phiIn mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio of the sum of the quantities to the larger quantity is equal to the ratio of the larger quantity to the smaller one. The golden ratio is an irrational mathematical constant, approximately 1.6180339887...
:
The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number (2002). The book won the Peano Prize and the International Pythagoras Prize for popular books on mathematics.
Life and scientific career
Born in
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
, Livio stayed with his grandparents when his mother and father were forced to flee the country for political reasons. Livio himself left Romania at age five with his grandparents, and the family settled in
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
. He served with the Israeli Defense Forces as a
paramedicA paramedic is a medical professional, usually a member of the emergency medical services, who primarily provides pre-hospital advanced medical and trauma care...
in the Six Day War (1967), the
Yom Kippur WarThe Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to October 26, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of...
(1973) and the war in
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
(1982).
Livio earned a
B.S.A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years ....
degree in physics and mathematics at the
Hebrew University of JerusalemThe Hebrew University of Jerusalem is Israel's oldest university....
, an
M.S.A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in a large number of countries...
degree in theoretical particle physics at the Weizmann Institute, and a
Ph.D.Ph.D. or PHD may stand for:* Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group* Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip* PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian organization...
in theoretical astrophysics at Tel-Aviv University. He was a professor of physics at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology from 1981 to 1991, before coming to the Space Telescope Science Institute.
For the past decade Livio has focused his research activities on
supernovaA supernova is a stellar explosion. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months. During this short interval, a supernova can radiate as much energy as the Sun could emit over...
explosions and their use in determining the rate of expansion of the
universeThe Universe comprises everything that physically exists, the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter and energy, and the physical laws and constants that govern them...
. He has also studied so-called
dark energyIn physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to increase the rate of expansion of the universe. Dark energy is the most popular way to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be...
, black holes, and the formation of planetary systems around young
starA star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma that is held together by gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth. Other stars are visible in the night sky, when they are not outshone by the Sun...
s. He has authored or co-authored dozens of papers in refereed journals on these and other subjects in astrophysics.
Livio and his wife Sofie, a microbiologist, have three children.
Popular works
For almost twenty years Livio has popularized abstruse subjects in astronomy and mathematics through books, lectures, magazine articles, and radio and television appearances. He has delivered popular lectures at such venues as the
Smithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines...
, the
Hayden Planetarium|-| |-| |-| |}The Hayden Planetarium is a public planetarium located on Central Park West, New York City, next to and organizationally part of the American Museum of Natural History....
, the
Maryland Institute College of ArtMaryland Institute College of Art is an art college in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the first and oldest art colleges in the United States. In 2008, MICA was tied for #4 in the nation among fine...
, the
Cleveland Museum of Natural HistoryThe Cleveland Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum located approximately five miles east of downtown Cleveland, Ohio in University Circle, a 550-acre concentration of educational, cultural and medical institutions...
, and the
Glasgow Science CentreGlasgow Science Centre is a visitor attraction located on the south bank of the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a purpose-built science centre composed of three principal buildings which are the Science Mall, an IMAX cinema and the Glasgow Tower...
. He has appeared on PBS, NPR and
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
, among other radio and TV outlets, to discuss scientific and mathematical subjects.
Livio's first book of popular science was
The Accelerating Universe (2000), which explained in layman's terms the theory that the universe was
expandingThe Big Bang is the cosmological model of the initial conditions and subsequent development of the Universe that is supported by the most comprehensive and accurate explanations from current scientific evidence and observation...
at a faster and faster rate. He explored the possible causes and the theoretical implications of continuing expansion, especially its implications for beliefs about the "beauty" of the scientific laws that govern the cosmos.
A self-described "art fanatic" who owns hundreds of art books, Livio put this interest to good use in his next book,
The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi (2002). He traced the influence of the golden ratio through many centuries of art,
architectureFor a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of architecture. Architecture is the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures for human shelter or use....
,
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, and even
stock marketA stock market is a public market for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately....
theories.
Dan BrownDan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories...
, author of
The Da Vinci CodeThe Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective fiction novel written by American author Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discovers a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of...
, endorsed the book stating, "Livio unveils the history and mystery of the remarkable number phi (pronounced 'fee') in such a way that math-buffs and math-phobes alike can celebrate her wonder ..."
Livio's
The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved (2005) explains how efforts to solve the
quintic equationIn mathematics, a quintic equation is a polynomial equation of degree five. It is of the form:where are members of a field, typically the rational numbers, the real numbers or the complex numbers, and If but one of the other coefficients is non-zero, the equation is classified as either a...
led to
group theoryIn mathematics and abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as groups.The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as rings, fields, and vector spaces can all be seen as groups endowed with additional operations and...
and to the mathematics of
symmetrySymmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection...
. He emphasizes the crucial roles of
Évariste GaloisÉvariste Galois was a French mathematician born in Bourg-la-Reine. While still in his teens, he was able to determine a necessary and sufficient condition for a polynomial to be solvable by radicals, thereby solving a long-standing problem...
and
Niels Henrik AbelNiels Henrik Abel was a noted Norwegian mathematician who proved the impossibility of solving the quintic equation in radicals.-Early life:...
in developing this branch of mathematics. He also "keeps the hard stuff to a minimum," in the words of a
Publishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
review. The book contains biographical sketches of Galois, Abel and several other mathematicians.
Livio's new book, entitled
Is God A Mathematician?, was released on January 6, 2009. It discusses the uncanny ability of mathematics to describe and predict accurately the physical world. Livio also attempts to answer a question with which mathematicians and philosophers have struggled for centuries: Is mathematics ultimately invented or discovered?
Books by Mario Livio
- The Accelerating Universe: Infinite Expansion, the Cosmological Constant, and the Beauty of the Cosmos, Wiley 2000, ISBN 0-471-39976-0
- The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number, Broadway 2002, ISBN 0-7679-0815-5
- The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved: How Mathematical Genius Discovered the Language of Symmetry, Souvenir Press 2006, ISBN 0-285-63743-6
- Is God a Mathematician?, Simon & Schuster 2009, ISBN 978-0743294058
External links