Christopher Galfad (Photo by reporter Wang Jian, intern Liu Tianshu)
The 2nd Global Programmers Festival, hosted by xi'an municipal people's government and China Electronic Information Industry Federation, will be officially opened on October 24 at the Xi'an High-tech Zone Conference Center. The theme of this year's "Programmers' Day" is "Digital World, Code Moving the Future". On September 19th, Christopher Galfad, a well-known French scientist and writer and a disciple of Hawking's personal disciple, was invited to Xi'an as a heavyweight guest of the event and attended the launching ceremony of the Programmers' Day. He has been well known to readers in China and around the world for his popular science literary work "A Minimalist History of the Universe" translated into 45 languages. In between activities, he made a special trip to accept an exclusive interview with the reporter of Xi'an Evening News.
Reporter: Hello Chris, welcome to Xi'an. Have you heard of Xi'an? What are your impressions?
Chris: I've known the Terracotta Warriors since I was a kid, and I used to think xi'an was a very traditional and historic city. I've only been in Xi'an for two hours, but I've also seen a lot of modern things.
Reporter: Having traveled to so many countries and regions around the world, how do you think Xi'an is different from other places?
Chris: I think Xi'an is more like Beijing than more like Shanghai. I also went to a lot of domestic and foreign technology companies and saw that everything was developing very fast. Judging from the speed of construction, Xi'an is also in a stage of rapid development.
Reporter: The "Minimalist History of the Universe" written by you expresses the starry sky we look up to very romantically, shows the grandeur of the universe and the smallness of human beings to the fullest, and leads the reader to complete an extraordinary journey with words-driven imagination. Can you share your view of cosmic history for readers in Xi'an?
Chris: The universe is unimaginable, and the universe is full of secrets, especially in the past century, when I have found that the universe is completely different from our imagination.
With the advancement of technology, the universe has completely subverted our previous imaginations. In the past few decades of exploration, we have found that although the human brain is small, it is possible that we may know more and more about the secrets of the universe. For me, the universe is a playground that allows us to constantly explore and enjoy.
Reporter: Your work is very popular in China, and your language style subverts people's stereotypes of physicists, can you talk about your psychological state when you created this work?
Chris: Traditionally, people have thought that science is boring, full of formulas, or difficult, but for me, math or various scientific methods are just a means to help us understand the world through science.
Science is like a journey where you can go wherever you want, and this trip I don't want to be alone, like Superman with his girlfriend in the sky, I want to take people along in a beautiful universe, which is what I want to show the reader in this book.
Reporter: After studying the history of the universe, how do you think about the short and fleeting history of mankind?
Chris: From a rational point of view, it doesn't matter, because humans are so small. But this is not a bad thing, because recognizing the brevity of human life, we maintain a sense of humility in the face of the earth. Everything we do now is insignificant to the Earth, and it has the potential to change the Planet, but even if humans go extinct, the Earth will not be destroyed. Recognizing the greatness of the universe, we will remain more humble and optimistic in the face of coexistence with nature and develop our own social organization.
Reporter: What was your experience and feelings about coming to China to participate in the Programmers' Day this time?
Chris: It's a great honor to grow with a festival that's constantly evolving, that's becoming more influential and doing better every year.
Reporter: China and France are ancient countries with a long history and splendid civilizations, how do you think we should promote exchanges between China and France in the fields of culture, science and technology, education and other fields at a deeper level?
Chris: When I was in Cambridge, everyone came from different countries, but everyone spoke the same language: math. The benefits of different cultures thinking about problems when solving problems are immeasurable. China and France have a lot of their own uniqueness, but the integration and collision of each other is very important. For example, a person should communicate more with people of different cultures, otherwise they will become timid and will not know how to deal with the unknown. Therefore, this kind of collision and exchange is very beneficial to science, culture, science and technology and other fields.
In just ten minutes of interviews, Christopher Galfad vividly presented the vastness and mystery of the universe to us. On the morning of October 25, The Universe Super Cosmic Science Show, initiated and hosted by Christopher Galfad, will offer viewers an amazing journey through the latest discoveries of science.
(Reporter Zhi Yin Intern Gao Wanying)
![Hawking was paralyzed at the age of 21 and confined to a wheelchair for half a century, how did his three children come?[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)