2009 - Daylight Symposium
HERE COMES THE SUN by Tor Nørretranders
Speakers
Tor Nørretranders
Independent author, thinker and commentator
Why is it that daylight makes us so happy? And why it is that bright sunlight makes us even more joyful? What is so wonderful about a blue sky? Neurobiology is not enough. We need planet science and cosmology to understand all of this.
Tor Nørretranders is an independent author, thinker and commentator based in Copenhagen, Denmark, serving an international audience. Generally seen as a leading science communicator of Denmark, Tor Nørretranders has involved himself in numerous activities in the public arena, from newspaper journalism through books and magazine articles to hosting and producing television shows on science and the general world view. His lecture tours, gathering tens of thousands of people, have been major events on the Scandinavian scene.
Originally graduated as a M.Sc. in environmental planning and the sociology of science, Tor Nørretranders has been academically employed at the Technical University of Denmark, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the Risø National Laboratory. He is now adjunct professor in the philosophy of science at Copenhagen Business School. His scientific publications include studies of pattern formation in fluids, the information content of conscious experience and the output and quality of Danish science.He has been involved in creating collaborative networks of artists and scientists. Tor Nørretranders has published 20 books spanning issues from the worldview of science and the role of science in society to environmental issues and the realm of human experience and consciousness:
“The user Illusion” from 1991 became an international bestseller, even though it is a 500-page treatise on the role of consciousness in human affairs, based on material from physics, mathematics, psychology, neurophysiology and the history of ideas.
“The Generous Man” from 2002 deals with the role of generosity and sociality in human affairs. The book provides support for the notion that humans are not at all like Homo economicus, the selfish and rational actor in most economical theory. Humans do in fact want to cooperate and to be generous.
Other more recent titles deal with issues spanning from the role of faith outside the world of religion, the scientific debates over human nutrition and obesity, as well as a biography of Albert Einstein. In 2007, his book ”Civilisation 2.0” launched an optimistic view of the coming epoch of a sustainable hi-tech society. A book on the role of joy in human lifte created a huge interest as did a book for children on how the world works. In 2008 “Green light” followed up on the environemtal issues. A second volume with questions and answers for kids was also published.
Tor Nørretranders has received the non-fiction prize of the Danish Writers Union in 1985 and the publicist prize of the Danish Publicist Club, 1988. His books have been published in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Holland, Germany, Romania, England, USA, Japan and Korea.
