What The If?

Reimagining COSMOLOGY From Inside YOU - With Hakeem OLUSEYI


Listen Later

The brilliant astrophysicist and master teacher HAKEEM OLUSEYI takes us into one of the most astounding IF's we have ever experienced. In a tour de force of imagination, Dr. Oluseyi helps us appreciate the unimaginably titanic scale of the Universe by asking us to imagine being unimaginably microscopic and instead of looking out at the Milky Way galaxy... these astronomers are inside... YOU!
This is a fantastic voyage that takes you from the size of the electron, to the stars, to the scale of the universe and... beyond. Don't forget to take a breath and soak it all in, you won't forget this show.
Dr. Oluseyi is an Astrophysicist, STEM Educator, Author, Speaker, Science Communicator, and Veteran. His memoir "A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey From The Streets To The Stars" has just been published, to great acclaim, and is available wherever books are sold. More info at https://sites.prh.com/a-quantum-life
About the book: In this inspiring coming-of-age memoir, a world-renowned astrophysicist emerges from an impoverished childhood and crime-filled adolescence to ascend through the top ranks of research physics.
Navigating poverty, violence, and instability, a young James Plummer had two guiding stars—a genius IQ and a love of science. But a bookish nerd is a soft target, and James faced years of bullying and abuse. As he struggled to survive his childhood in some of the country’s toughest urban neighborhoods in New Orleans, Houston, and LA, and later in the equally poor backwoods of Mississippi, he adopted the persona of “gangsta nerd”—dealing weed in juke joints while winning state science fairs with computer programs that model Einstein’s theory of relativity.
Once admitted to the elite physics PhD program at Stanford University, James found himself pulled between the promise of a bright future and a dangerous crack cocaine habit he developed in college. With the encouragement of his mentor and the sole Black professor in the physics department, James confronted his personal demons as well as the entrenched racism and classism of the scientific establishment. When he finally seized his dream of a life in astrophysics, he adopted a new name, Hakeem Muata Oluseyi, to honor his African ancestors.
Alternately heartbreaking and hopeful, A Quantum Life narrates one man’s remarkable quest across an ever-expanding universe filled with entanglement and choice.
---
Got an IF of your own? Want to have us consider your idea for a show topic? Send YOUR IF to us!
Email us at [email protected] and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big!
---
Want to support the show? Click a rating or add a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1
Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe at WhatTheIF.com
Keep On IFFin',
Philip, Matt & Gaby
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

What The If?By Philip Shane, Matt Stanley, Gabrielle Paniccia

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

59 ratings


More shows like What The If?

View all
99% Invisible by Roman Mars

99% Invisible

26,260 Listeners

StarTalk Radio by Neil deGrasse Tyson

StarTalk Radio

14,346 Listeners

No Such Thing As A Fish by No Such Thing As A Fish

No Such Thing As A Fish

4,874 Listeners

This Week in Science – The Kickass Science Podcast by Dr. Kirsten Sanford Science Media

This Week in Science – The Kickass Science Podcast

465 Listeners

Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science by The Planetary Society

Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

1,354 Listeners

Ask a Spaceman! by Paul M. Sutter

Ask a Spaceman!

842 Listeners

Universe Today Podcast by Fraser Cain

Universe Today Podcast

563 Listeners

Space Nuts: Astronomy Insights & Cosmic Discoveries by Professor Fred Watson and Andrew Dunkley

Space Nuts: Astronomy Insights & Cosmic Discoveries

238 Listeners

Stuff They Don't Want You To Know by iHeartPodcasts

Stuff They Don't Want You To Know

10,366 Listeners

Science Friday by Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Science Friday

6,447 Listeners

Quirks and Quarks by CBC

Quirks and Quarks

362 Listeners

Sidedoor by Smithsonian Institution

Sidedoor

2,237 Listeners

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas by Sean Carroll | Wondery

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

4,195 Listeners

Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe by iHeartPodcasts

Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe

2,360 Listeners

The LIUniverse with Dr. Charles Liu by theliuniverse

The LIUniverse with Dr. Charles Liu

67 Listeners