Editing Alan Lightman (section)

==Early life and education==
Alan Lightman was born and grew up in [[Memphis, Tennessee]].<ref name="singer">{{Cite web|url=https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/reviews/alan-lightman-s-family-memoir-veers-far-from-facts/article_fd598076-89a1-5eb4-b6cb-41a2a49ebc6b.html|title=Alan Lightman's family 'memoir' veers far from facts|last=Singer|first=Dale|website=stltoday.com|date=February 14, 2015 |language=en|access-date=2020-01-03}}</ref> His father Richard Lightman was a movie theater owner and played a major role in desegregating movie theaters in the South in 1962.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-commercial-appeal/20141116/282248073858125|title=Malco Movie Family Unreels Century of Cinema Celebration|via=PressReader}}</ref> His mother Jeanne Garretson was a dance teacher and Braille typist.

Lightman graduated from [[White Station High School]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whitestationscroll.net/909/a-e/dr-alan-lightman-spartan-success/ |title=Dr. Alan Lightman: Spartan Success |last=Thomas|first=Cristal|date=April 14, 2014|access-date=2020-01-12}}</ref> He graduated [[Phi Beta Kappa]] with an A.B. in physics from [[Princeton University]] in 1970 after completing a senior thesis, titled "Design and construction of a gas scintillation detector capable of time-of-flight measurements of fission isomer decays", under the supervision of Robert Naumann.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lightman|first=Alan|url=https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/4122369|title=Design and construction of a gas scintillation detector capable of time-of-flight measurements of fission isomer decays|date=1970|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://paw.princeton.edu/article/qa-alan-lightman-70-helping-home|title=Alan Lightman '70 on a Helping Home |last=Thean|first=Tara|date=December 5, 2018|website=Princeton Alumni Weekly|access-date=2020-01-12}}</ref> He then received a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in physics from the [[California Institute of Technology]] in 1974 after completing a doctoral dissertation, titled "I. Time-dependent accretion disks around compact objects. II. Theoretical frameworks for analyzing and testing gravitation theories", under the supervision of [[Kip Thorne|Kip S. Thorne]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lightman|first1=Alan P.|last2=Thorne|first2=Kip S.|title=I. Time-dependent accretion disks around compact objects.|url=https://caltech.tind.io/record/525137?ln=en|journal=Caltech|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Caltech Names Distinguished Alumni">{{Cite web|url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltech-names-distinguished-alumni-696|title=Caltech Names Distinguished Alumni|website=www.caltech.edu|date=April 16, 2003 }}</ref>