The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred

by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Overview

From a star theoretical physicist, “a love letter to the wonderous universe we call home, and an urge to think critically about how we explore its depths” (Smithsonian Magazine)

In The Disordered Cosmos, Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein shares her love for physics, from the Standard Model of Particle Physics and what lies beyond it, to the physics of melanin in skin, to the latest theories of dark matter—all with a new spin informed by history, politics, and the wisdom of Star Trek.
 
One of the leading physicists of her generation, Prescod-Weinstein is also one of the first one hundred Black American women to earn a PhD from a department of physics. Her vision of the cosmos is vibrant, buoyantly nontraditional, and grounded in Black feminist traditions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541724693
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	03/09/2021
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an associate professor of physics and astronomy and core faculty in women’s and gender studies at the University of New Hampshire. She divides her time between Cambridge, Massachusetts and the New Hampshire Seacoast, where she enjoys doing amateur astrophotography. 

Table of Contents

In the Beginning: A Bedtime Story 1

Phase 1 Just Physics 9

1 I Quarks 11

2 Dark Matter Isn't Dark 29

3 Spacetime Isn't Straight 45

4 The Biggest Picture There Is 67

Phase 2 Physics and the Chosen Few 91

5 The Physics of Melanin 93

6 Black People Are Luminous Matter 113

7 Who Is a Scientist? 131

Phase 3 The Trouble with Physicists 147

8 Let Astro/Physics Be the Dream It Used to Be 149

9 The Anti-Patriarchy Agender 167

10 Wages for Scientific Housework 183

11 Rape Is Part of This Scientific Story 197

Phase 4 All Our Galactic Relations 211

12 The Point of Science: Lessons from the Mauna 213

13 Cosmological Dreams Under Totalitarianism 235

14 Black Feminist Physics at the End of the World 253

Dear Mama, This is What My Freedom Dream Looks Like 275

A Note to the Reader 283

Acknowledgments 289

A Reader's Guide to The Disordered Cosmos Shirley Ngozi Nwangwa 293

Recommended Reading 301

Index 313

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/25/2021

Prescod-Weinstein, a particle cosmologist, debuts with an eye-popping and innovative look into the nature of the universe and her “awakening as a Black scientist.” In lucid prose, she takes readers through the “strange, fantastical” world of particle physics, describing quantum mechanics, theories such as string theory and quantum gravity, and and the axion, a hypothetical particle and a subject of her own research. Woven in is an account of Prescod-Weinstein’s evolution as a scientist and a critique of the discipline’s “social environment.” “White empiricism,” she writes, relies on inaccurate language, and she objects to the dark matter analogy in academia, which compares dark matter to Black people when in fact dark matter is invisible. She rebukes “intellectual colonialism” that dismisses Indigenous knowledge and claims to land, and pushes back against a culture she argues is rife with exploitation and sexual assault. As a remedy, she proposes an institutional restructuring (“science needs an anti-colonial code”) that allows children “of every shade, gender identity, sex identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, romantic orientation, (dis)ability, and religion” access to the night sky. In addition to her urgent critique, Prescod-Weinstein’s explanation of physics remains accessible. The result is a resonant paean to the beauties of the cosmos and a persuasive appeal for solutions to injustices in science. Agent: Jessica Papin, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Eye-opening, provocative, and ultimately inspiring: if we can grasp the enormity of the cosmos, surely we can look within ourselves and try to be better to each other.”—Sean Carroll, author of Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime

“Both scientist and humanist, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein integrates her personal experience as a Black woman growing up in an America filled with social injustice with her quest to understand the cosmos. For me, she embodies Star Trek: The Next Generation.”—Gates McFadden, actress and director

“A rethinking of what time, space and matter mean when we understand the systems of oppression and exploitation that structure our realities. We've never more needed a map of the stars to guide us, and Chanda gives us a great big new one in this book.”—Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of We Love You, Charlie Freeman

“This book will change the way you think about the universe, and about the how, why, and whom of academic culture.”
 —Katie Mack, author of The End of Everything

“Afrofuturists seeking a deeper grounding in sciences beyond Earth’s terrain will enjoy this well-crafted book that centers both Black Lives and space theory in a quest to understand the universe.”—Ytasha L. Womack, author of Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi & Fantasy Culture

“Imagine if someone could make you fall in love not only with the nighttime sky not only as a thing of beauty but as a matter of matter, the stuff of our existence seen and unseen. Imagine a physics professor who could assure you that the world and its wonder belongs to all of us, Black women included. That is what you have in Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's The Disordered Cosmos. Her writing is beautiful and clear, her ideas are expansive, honest and precise. You will feel yourself grow inside this book. Finally, this is the decolonized science we have yearned for, a gift from a rare intellectual who fights for freedom on every page and inside every theory.”—Imani Perry, author of Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry

From the Publisher

02/01/2021

Taking us into the heart of dark matter research and the study of cosmology, Prescod-Weinstein (theoretical physics, Univ. of New Hampshire) delves into her own story to highlight how the practice of science, and the ability to explore the wonders of the universe, are dependent on the conditions present in society. How do gender, race, and sexual identities determine access to science and the ability to participate in scientific research? These are questions that fascinate the author as much as do quarks, axions, dark matter, and other subjects of theoretical astrophysics. She provides an honest, raw look at how she had to overcome the prejudices and abuses of a largely cisgender white male profession as a woman of Afro-Caribbean, Jewish descent who identifies as queer agender in order to explore her passion. VERDICT Part introduction to quantum mechanics and cosmology, part memoir, and part sociological study, this work challenges readers to question the nature of how science is done in contemporary society, as well as what it means when everyone has a seat at the cosmological table. For general science readers, gender and feminist studies students, and those concerned about the role feminist and racial politics plays in STEM professions.—Donna Marie Smith, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., FL

Library Journal

★ 2020-12-08
“Black Lives are Star Stuff and Black Lives Matter—all of them.” A renowned physicist describes the beauty and wonder of the universe while interrogating the discriminatory sociocultural systems that support scientific practice.

In this powerful and compelling book, Prescod-Weinstein lays it out patently: Racist and sexist policies and behaviors are rampant across all scientific disciplines. As a result, minorities are poorly represented, in particular in physics, astronomy, and related fields. Yet the cosmos offers a siren song to all humans, and changing the centuries-old framework dictating how science is constructed, perceived, and taught is imperative not only to make room for diverse scientists, but also to enrich the pursuit of knowledge itself. Prescod-Weinstein, who is the first Black woman to hold a tenure-track faculty position in theoretical cosmology, rightly points out that “creating room for Black children to freely love particle physics and cosmology means radically changing society and the role of physicists within it.” In a pleasing combination of passionate and cogent prose, the author demonstrates the entanglement of scientific pursuit and colonial histories and explains how her own exploration of math and physics cannot be separated from the history of racism and oppression. After all, she writes, “physics and math classrooms are not only scenes of cosmology…but also scenes of society, complete with all of the problems that follow society wherever it goes. There is no escape.” From the hunt for dark matter (her area of expertise) to the often fraught relationship among Indigenous peoples, their lands, and high-tech experiments, Prescod-Weinstein’s deep dives into complex subjects are accessible and exhilarating. But it's her crystal-clear vision of the transformation equality could effect in the world that makes this book a must-read. Her belief in what the future could hold—of “what freedom looks like”—should serve as an inspiration for all readers.

A timely, necessary, stellar book—a game-changer.

Kirkus Reviews