I heard Sir Roger Penrose give a talk at the Perimeter Institute, Grand Opening 4 years ago. Finally, just last week, the esteemed Oxford physicist and I were re-united at last. Free tickets sold out almost instantly, but there's no chance I could let such a celebrity parade across my front lawn without witnessing it first hand. Especially since it's good blog material, and Jacks of Science is essentially the Perez Hilton of Science (slogan trademark pending).

Penrose spoke overtime on the nature of our universe before the Big Bang. I like to think of the lecture as an hour and a half of supplementary material to Leon Lederman's 10 second hand-wavey answer to the very same question in Street Corner Science Part 1.

The National Post does a great job of treading past the physics into theological no-man's land. Thankfully, to help clear up some of the physics details, I jotted down some key quotes from the lecture:

• "General Relativity makes light cones 'Higgily-Piggily'
• "Unpleasant tiny black-hole explosions"
• "Rogue electrons, I hope they dissapear"
• "Universe loses track of time"

Yeah, the notes were pretty brief.. but the whole talk should be available online at some point. It was a great lecture. Penrose's colorful overhead transparencies have already inspired some sort of grassroots movement among my classmates.

Personally, I found that I could appreciate a lot more of the mathematical details this time around. You see, I've learned a lot in the past 4 years. I am much wiser. This time around I didn't forget to get an autograph!

If Penrose wins a Nobel Prize today, I'll be rich!