In the early hours of the morning, when most people are fast asleep, Saul Perlmutter found himself rudely awakened by a reporter’s inquiry about his emotional state at that unusual hour. Although he felt perfectly fine upon waking, he was puzzled as to why someone would ask such a question so unexpectedly.
This quote delves into the nuances of being in the public eye and the unexpected intrusions that can come with it. It highlights the detachment one might develop towards such interruptions by posing a simple yet probing question: Why do you ask? This query encapsulates both the reporter’s impetus to gather information and the subject’s bemusement at such an inquiry. Perlmutter’s response reflects on how people in the spotlight often find themselves questioned about their personal lives or emotional states without clear context, leading them to question the intentions behind such queries.
Saul Perlmutter is a distinguished astrophysicist who has made significant contributions to the field of cosmology, particularly through his work on supernovae. His research was pivotal in understanding the accelerating expansion of the universe, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011.
