Then what happened was about a 1000 years ago there was a debate at the very which are facts human history even today Islamic scholars begin to debate the question is there a God or is there something called natural law that supersedes God or was the relationship between God and natural law on one hand we have the great scientists of the Islamic world these the people who worked out mathematics algebra these the people who worked out trigonometry they were the ones who gave names to the stars in the heavens there were astronomers mathematicians engineers architects and they believed in studying natural law perhaps to be one way to glorify our However there were also the fundamentalists who said how we don t have to study natural law because God can change natural laws and he time he feels like so why bother to study something which is so complicated natural law when I can simply snap his fingers and change Natural Law Well this debate went on for centuries. But it mainly signify the d
Kills the cosmic bald and when I was small I remember almost every evening just going outdoors and just looking at the stars in the Milky Way for hours and hours and hours and I would say that that s probably what started me off. With that of course comes the natural curiosity of how things were and what these objects are and one is led I think in most cases to. Study of physics and that s what got me into physics and astronomy I would say an Arizona is one of the world s leading centers for astronomical research scientist and so what is it like to be in Arizona versus being in New York City to be able to look up at the night sky and see the Milky Way and also to be at the very forefront of telescope technology Well that s the interesting comparison of course because even though I usually tell my friends especially the ones overseas even though we belong to the same country the southwest of the United States is really very very different from the northeast as I think everybody realize
But of his success and if you are and then Trump and nor especially in Silicon Valley what kinds of trades can you learn what kind of tips can you learn by studying the life and the mistakes of the Wizard of Menlo Park So once again our special guest today is Randall Stross the book is called The Wizard of Menlo Park and he s a columnist for The New York Times. The 1st question for you is how did you get interested in writing a biography of this iconic figure Thomas Edison about 10 years ago I wrote a biography of Steve Jobs. I was looking at job is attempt to found a 2nd company after our and he was a big fan of Edison and and of course that doing research for that book I kept running into at a name and then the book The font that which was about Bill Gates of Microsoft again I ran into Mr Edison. I think it s fair to say that anyone working in the high tech industry today. All those a lot out of them. And to many people feel that connection that. That that to be inventors contributi