mispronunciation you've run into?

Most people mispronounce my name ZA-JONK.

Is there any chance that you became interested in science because your last name rhymes with the word?

No, I became interested in science during the Sputnik era when the exploration of space and the attraction of science were at a peak. While my family urged me to follow a practical career as an engineer, I wanted to study pure science, particularly physics.

What's the biggest difference between Amherst today and when you began teaching here?

Amherst itself has changed remarkably little, but I think that the students have become more socially and environmentally conscious over the last 10 years. Sometimes it is under the surface, but I experience students as caring about the welfare of others and their planetary home.

What's the most exotic place you've ever visited?

I loved my visit to Delphi, Greece but I also appreciated being with a group of indigenous spiritual leaders in Costa Rica for two weeks.

If you weren't at Amherst, what would you be doing and where would you be?

I think that I might be a writer living abroad.

We've heard that you've talked about physics with the Dalai Lama. Can you describe that?

Since 1995 I have had the opportunity to work with the Dalai Lama. On two occasions I organized five-day scientific meetings with him in his home in Dharamsala, India. The experience is hard to describe. The Dalai Lama is a well-trained Buddhist philosopher who is both a gracious host and a tough-minded partner in dialogues. The best way to get a sense for these meetings with him is to check out the website www.mindandlife.org or to get my new book "The New Physics and Cosmology: Dialogues with the Dalai Lama," which is due out in a week or two from Oxford University Press. By the way, I am not a Buddhist, although I have been a long-time meditator.

What are your desires (or fears) for the next presidential election?

I am a strong supporter of the Democratic alternative to Bush.

What's your opinion on same-sex marriages?

I support same-sex marriages.

Do you like your food spicy or mild?

Mild.

How computer literate do you consider yourself?

I am pretty computer literate, since I grew up with them as a scientist. I have built them on a couple of occasions.

If you could claim to be the author of any novel, what would you choose?

It is a toss-up between Wolfram von Eschenback's "Parzifal" and Dostoevski's "The Idiot."