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Harvard physics professor and author John E. Huth discussed his new book, “A Sense of Space,” which explores the interaction between society and evolving scientific explanations of space, in the Science Center on Tuesday.
The talk, co-hosted by the Harvard Book Store and Harvard Science Book Talks, was attended by around 100 people and moderated by Jacob Barandes, a physics preceptor at Harvard.
Intended for a general audience, Huth’s book focuses on how scientific models of space are continuously developed and change social perceptions of physical and celestial space. During the talk, he differentiated between cultural perceptions of space. For instance, when giving directions, some people tell others to go straight then turn left, while others suggest heading north then going west.
The difference between these egocentric and allocentric views of space, in other words relative or absolute perceptions of space, are central to Huth’s work. Huth’s research involves studying which parts of the brain are responsible for egocentric or allocentric pathways of thinking. He relates this to how societies are developed.
“Sometimes languages tend to favor egocentric orientations, and some languages favor allocentric orientation,” Huth said. “Some people say that the language favors allocentric orientations that people are better at navigating.”
Huth began the talk covering a range of topics that the book depends on including quantum mechanics, mental maps, astronomy, and Einstein’s relativity.
To demonstrate one of the book’s arguments about relative and absolute space, Barandes asked Huth if it would make a difference if everything in the universe shifted 10 meters to the left. Huth responded by adding another layer, asking if it would matter if everything in the universe became slightly bigger. Ultimately, he says “I think it doesn’t matter.”
But how societies differ in understanding these questions both depends on and affects technology and daily life, Huth explained. For instance, the invention of the telescope challenged and changed perceptions of space.
“With the invention of the telescope, people could start seeing structure on the planets, so you can see the rings of Saturn, moons of Jupiter, ice caps on Mars and so on,” he said. “That immediately led to speculations that maybe those planets were inhabited.”
A central topic of his new book, Huth attempted to define the meaning of space.
“I view space as kind of a stage on which the theater of the universe acts,” he said.
“It gets back to the idea stage in a theater where the possibilities can get addressed, and then there are physical realizations of what we're actually experiencing,” he added.
Huth said he hopes that his readers come away from the book with a better understanding of how the human race has perceived our place in the universe.
“At some level it’s difficult to step out of our brains to look beyond and we kind of want to — It’s intrinsic to us to be travelers,” he said. “Getting in touch with your own wanderlust is something I want people to take away from this.”
