Editing Alan Lightman (section)

==Career==

Lightman was a postdoctoral fellow in astrophysics at [[Cornell University]] (1974–1976); an assistant professor
at [[Harvard University]] (1976–1979); a senior research scientist at the [[Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics|Center for Astrophysics {{!}} Harvard & Smithsonian]] (1979–1989); and then a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (1989– ). During this period
he began publishing poetry in small magazines and eventually essays in ''Science 80'', the ''Smithsonian'', ''The New Yorker'',
and other magazines.

At MIT, in the mid-1990s Lightman chaired the committee that established the communication requirement
for all undergraduates. In 2001, he cofounded the graduate program in science writing. In 2005, he was a cofounder of the Catalyst Collaborative at MIT, a partnership between MIT and Central
Square Theater, in Cambridge, that sponsors plays involving science and the culture of science.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spectrum.mit.edu/continuum/qa-alan-lightman/|title=Physicist and Novelist Alan Lightman Looks Back on a Decade of Science on Stage|website=MIT Spectrum}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://arts.mit.edu/about/partners/catalyst-collaborative-at-mit/|title=Catalyst Collaborative at MIT}}</ref> 

In August 2023, Lightman was appointed a member of the United Nations’ Scientific Advisory Board.