Talk:Lisa Randall

Untitled

Would someone like to post a link to professor Randall's appearance on NPR's Talk of the Nation show from March 20, 2009? It's at http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=5&prgDate=03-20-2009&view=storyview —Preceding unsigned comment added by Twfeline (talk • contribs) 17:08, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Possible copyright problem? The first paragraph of the article is taken word for word (except for changing "one of two main" to "several of the") from the brief author bio on the dustjacket of Warped Passages. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.154.155.138 (talk • contribs) 02:55, 4 September 2006

Is she Jewish?lutherian 10:24, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.237.103.228 (talk) 21:28, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Could someone please post this image of her (http://universe-review.ca/I15-71-LisaRandall.jpg) on Wikipedia, so I can edit it on the brazilian article?

Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.25.154.201 (talk) 21:48, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Nope, that would almost certainly be a copyvio. – ukexpat (talk) 00:47, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

What did she do?

The article talks all about her and says she "worked on" this and that, but specifically what did she do ? What did she ever discover for science ? Why is she so promoted in the mass media when as far as I can see she is noted for nothing in particular. 173.169.90.98 (talk) 03:05, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

You're right. She's guilty. OF BEING HOT! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.171.176.129 (talk) 10:46, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

e.g. Randall-Sundrum model--109.193.77.188 (talk) 00:02, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Just a model with no experimental predictions confirmed cannot be considered as a great contribution in any way. ~2026-75747-9 (talk) 03:40, 4 February 2026 (UTC)

It is perfectly acceptable to propose hypotheses to be tested. At the time of writing, this is a notable contribution of of hers. Nerd271 (talk) 17:06, 4 February 2026 (UTC)

Atheism

I think that strong references for this claim are necessay, since "being an atheist" is meant as an insult in large parts of the world. The google search terms Lisa Randall atheist lists this article on Rank four, so let's find other sources first before we make that claim, especially in regard to WP:ORIG. --Schtobia (talk) 07:47, 2 May 2011 (UTC)

Include appearance on Tavis Smiley (TV series)?

Include appearance on Tavis Smiley (TV series)? 99.35.14.164 (talk) 05:13, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

Reversion Warning

The edit on 1 Nov 2013 by 128.100.79.225 is subject to reversion because

1. No citation

2. Neutral POV

3. Original Research

4. It interrupts the flow of the biography with an inappropriately detailed criticism.

The content of the edit does not add substantially to existing content and the tone of the edit is at once speculative (original research, uncited) and seems prejudiced against the research of this living person (POV, bad style).

Please respond on this talk page. Ggpauly (talk) 03:14, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

organization

article needs separate section for her books Ggpauly (talk) 03:44, 23 December 2013 (UTC)

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Changes by Alan Guth, a friend of the subject, 08/03/2025, to section on Association with Jeffrey Epstein

This is Alan Guth, admittedly a friend of Lisa Randall's. On 07/27/2025 the same user (46.193.64.97) added a section on "Association with Jeffrey Epstein" to both Lisa's Wikipedia entry and mine. Both of these additions contained several errors, and I have now corrected those errors on both pages.

The 2004 dinner was definitely not hosted by Jeffrey Epstein, but was hosted by New York City literary agent John Brockman, as an activity of his Edge Foundation. It may very well be that the photographer was invited by Epstein, but the rest of us were not. I can paste here my original email invitation to this event:

    *****************************************************************
    > From John Brockman <[Email address suppressed]>
    > To: [Email address suppressed] (Alan Guth - MIT)
    > Thu 08/26/2004 18:58:07
    > Subject: EDGE Event in Cambridge, MA Sept 7-8
    --------------------
    Alan,

    I am pleased to invite you to attend this year's annual end-of-summer 
    event which is in Cambridge, MA September 7-8, and will highlight the 
    work of Robert Trivers.

    Here's the invitation:
    http://www.edge.org/documents/day04/invite04.html

    Please let me know asap if you can attend. Katinka and I hope you
    can make it. 

    Best,

    JB

    Eastover Farm (through August)
    203-266-5930

    rsvp: [Email address suppressed]

    -- 
    John Brockman
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    President			     [Email address suppressed]
    Edge Foundation, Inc.	             tel: 212.935.8900 x11
    5 East 59th Street 		     fax: 212.935.5535
    New York, NY 10022
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    Visit the EDGE Website at: http://www.edge.org
    -----------------------------------------------------------

The file with the full invitation, http://www.edge.org/documents/day04/invite04.html, is still available through the WayBack Machine, and I linked it to the article.

The 2006 conference was not on Jeffrey Epstein's island. The source that was already linked clearly stated that the conference was on St. Thomas, but mentioned "a trip to the nearby private island retreat of the science philanthropist Jeffrey Epstein, who funded the event." The trip was for a dinner on the beach of the island, as is correctly described in Ref. [20] (New York Times article, 07/13/2019).

The addition to Lisa's article, but not mine, also contained the text

Later in 2012, Randall attended a second conference on gravity which also took place on Epstein's private island.

This statement is totally false, so I removed it. The misunderstanding stems from the second linked reference , which is a press release issued by the Jeffrey Epstein Foundation on March 29, 2012, as part of an effort to restore Epstein's reputation. It describes the 2006 conference, without giving a date of the conference. The New York Times article that I have linked documents Epstein's attempt to describe the 2006 conference as if it were current in 2012. The fact that the press release was describing the 2006 conference can also be seen plainly by comparing the text with the description of the 2006 conference in Ref. . They had compatible titles ("Confronting Gravity" in the 2006 description, "Confronting Gravity: A workshop to explore fundamental questions in physics and cosmology" in the 2012 press release), both were in St. Thomas, they had precisely the same list of 10 attendees (which included both Lisa and me), both were organized by Lawrence Krauss, and in both articles Krauss is quoted as summarizing the situation by saying "Right now we're floundering. We're floundering, in a lot of different areas." Several other direct quotes also match identically. I can give a full list if anyone has any lingering doubts.

The other reference linked to justify the alleged 2012 conference was to Peter Woit's website, "Not Even Wrong", https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=4600. This April 19, 2012 entry states that the conference happened "a couple weeks ago", but this was clearly fabricated for convenience by Woit. He cites the Epstein Foundation March 29, 2012 press release, without mentioning that the press release gave no date for the conference it was describing. In the discussion following the posting, Woit was asked if he was invited, to which he replied "Since attendees at Epstein's symposium are supposed to be physicists with Nobel prizes or equivalent scientific achievements, it would be absurd to invite me. If instead of `renowned physicists', he decides to have a symposium of `renowned physics bloggers', maybe I'll get invited." So it is clear that Woit had no information beyond the press release, so the "couple weeks ago" remark is merely an example of Woit's willingness to invent a fact here and there if it makes his narrative more persuasive.

After these corrections, the article is now correct. However, I would argue, as I did for my own Wikipedia page, that the fact that Lisa attended a few Epstein-sponsored events --- mostly before there had been any public accusations concerning his behavior, and one later which was organized by other people and for which Epstein was only one of three sponsors --- is not a relevant fact about Lisa. So I would request that the entire paragraph be removed. Alan Guth (talk) 19:40, 3 August 2025 (UTC)

This newer article in the Harvard Daily provides a trove of new information about the connections between Randall and Epstein. ~2026-41363-6 (talk) 21:51, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

OK? People meet and talk and exchange emails. Why is this notable? Being mentioned in the Epstein files does not necessarily indicate wrongdoing. Nerd271 (talk) 14:25, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

The thing that bothers me (as well as others who admire Lisa Randall's work) is that, although she is not likely to have directly participated on any wrongdoings related to Epstein, she maintained contact with him years after his conviction (and she even jokingly mentioned his house arrest in one email). She asked to visit his island in 2014 in a trip she was doing in the Caribbean. Keeping contact with a convicted child sex offender and even going to one of his properties after his legal conviction is a very big stain to anyone's reputation YnitedPR (talk) 00:23, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

I hope that Randall could have any good explanation on this that could make this less problematic, but it looks really bad so far YnitedPR (talk) 00:24, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

References