Sonnet for a Quark

October 20, 2004

Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek celebrated with colleagues from the Department of Physics at a party held in his honor the day he won the Nobel Prize, Oct. 5. A few days later, swamped by congratulations from people near and far, Wilczek penned a sonnet to show his appreciation for science and his friends.

I don't suppose that colored quarks and glue
Think over much about what they're up to;
They just do whatever comes naturally
And leave the worrying to you and me.

Free spirits! They seemed blithely unconcerned
With sacred lessons we'd with effort learned.
But by invoking then heretical
Wild hypotheses theoretical
I found their workings could be understood:
So the world makes sense, as it damn well should.

The prize recalls those days of search and find,
Warm notes from friends bring human joy to mind;
My heart is full, as is my thanks to you
My In box also, I'm afraid--adieu!

--Frank Wilczek

A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on October 20, 2004 (download PDF).

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Wilczek awarded 2004 Nobel Prize - Frank Wilczek, a theoretical physicist at MIT, has won the 2004 Nobel Prize in physics for a "colorful" discovery in the world of quarks, the building blocks of the atomic nucleus. 10/5/2004

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