The Final Interview with MIT Physicist Keith Johnson
632nm5 Elo 2025

The Final Interview with MIT Physicist Keith Johnson

One of Keith Johnson’s final interviews: a brilliant mind on dark matter, water, and fusion.

Read about Keith’s legacy here: https://news.mit.edu/2025/keith-johnson-materials-scientist-independent-filmmaker-dies-0723

This episode is one of the final recorded conversations with MIT physicist Keith Johnson, who passed away just weeks after our interview. In this conversation, he unpacks his early research on the quantum structure of matter, his cold fusion theories, and how it all led to a screenplay about a young female physicist. Johnson also suggests a radical idea: water clusters in space might explain some aspects of dark matter. A one-of-a-kind interview that blends science, art, and speculation.

We’re honored to share this glimpse into Keith’s remarkable intellect, creativity, and curiosity. May his legacy continue to inspire.

Follow us for more technical interviews with the world’s greatest scientists:

Twitter: https://x.com/632nmPodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/632nmpodcast?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/632nm/about/

Substack: https://632nmpodcast.substack.com/


Follow our hosts!

Michael Dubrovsky: https://x.com/MikeDubrovsky

Misha Shalaginov: https://x.com/MYShalaginov

Xinghui Yin: https://x.com/XinghuiYin


Subscribe:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/632nm/id1751170269

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4aVH9vT5qp5UUUvQ6Uf6OR

Website: https://www.632nm.com


Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

01:03- Early Life and Education

03:27 - Graduate Studies and Research Funding

05:44 - Postdoctoral Work and Quantum Chemistry

09:45 - Starting at MIT and Collaborations

15:05 - Cold Fusion and Film Making

23:38 - Keith's First Screenplay

28:55 - Filming a Movie at MIT

43:50 - Water Clusters and Quantum Energy

53:54 - Is Cold Fusion Possible?

1:07:13 - Challenges in Fusion Energy

1:12:09 - Advice for Young Scientists

APPENDIX:

1:15:42 - Water Might Be Connected to Dark Matter

1:24:49 - Cosmic Dust and Supernovae

1:28:36 - The Role of Water in the Universe

1:38:32 - The Future of Dark Matter Research

1:51:27 - Water Might Have Been Created Sooner After the Big Bang

#KeithJohnson #MIT #ScienceAndStorytelling #QuantumPhysics #DarkMatter #Astrobiology #BreakingSymmetry

Jaksot(44)

How Visual Experience Rewires the Brain | Mark Bear on Neuroplasticity

How Visual Experience Rewires the Brain | Mark Bear on Neuroplasticity

How does experience rewire the brain—and why is vision the ideal system for understanding neuroplasticity?In this episode, we speak with Mark Bear, MIT neuroscientist and a pioneer in the study of exp...

3 Helmi 1h 55min

Snell's Law, Metasurfaces, and Metalenses  | Federico Capasso

Snell's Law, Metasurfaces, and Metalenses | Federico Capasso

How can flat surfaces shape light as powerfully as bulky lenses?In this episode, we speak with Federico Capasso, Harvard physicist and pioneer of metasurfaces, metalenses, and nanophotonics. Capasso t...

20 Tammi 2h 13min

Graphene, Nanotubes, and Quantum Hall Physics | Philip Kim

Graphene, Nanotubes, and Quantum Hall Physics | Philip Kim

How do electrons behave when they’re confined to a single layer, and why do entirely new laws of physics emerge when dimensions shrink?Papers discussed in this episode:Experimental observation of the ...

6 Tammi 2h 47min

Quantum Matter, Super-conductors, and Black Holes | Subir Sachdev on the SYK Model

Quantum Matter, Super-conductors, and Black Holes | Subir Sachdev on the SYK Model

What makes high-temperature superconductors and “strange metals” some of the most perplexing systems in modern physics?In this episode, we speak with Dr. Subir Sachdev: Harvard physicist and one of th...

23 Joulu 20252h 34min

How to Build Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computers | Austin Fowler on Surface Codes + TQEC

How to Build Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computers | Austin Fowler on Surface Codes + TQEC

Would we get a quantum computer sooner if everything was open source?In this episode, we speak with Austin Fowler, one of the architects of quantum error correction and a pioneer of the surface code u...

9 Joulu 20251h 50min

Why Syncing Atomic Clocks is Virtually Impossible | Judah Levine on UTC

Why Syncing Atomic Clocks is Virtually Impossible | Judah Levine on UTC

Why is syncing atomic clocks still one of the hardest problems in physics and engineering?In this episode, we speak with Judah Levine—legendary NIST physicist and one of the key architects of modern t...

26 Marras 20252h 4min

Can We Predict History Like the Weather? | Peter Turchin on Cliodynamics

Can We Predict History Like the Weather? | Peter Turchin on Cliodynamics

Why do civilizations rise, prosper, and then collapse? Here's what the math tells us.In this episode, we sit down with Peter Turchin, complexity scientist and founder of the field of cliodynamics, whi...

4 Marras 20251h 18min

Why Do Quantum Computers Make So Many Mistakes? | Mikhail Lukin on Quantum Error Correction

Why Do Quantum Computers Make So Many Mistakes? | Mikhail Lukin on Quantum Error Correction

You can’t copy a qubit. So how do quantum computers remember anything?In this episode, we sit down with Mikhail Lukin, Harvard physicist and co-director of the Harvard Quantum Initiative, whose lab is...

21 Loka 20251h

Suosittua kategoriassa Tiede

rss-mita-tulisi-tietaa
tiedekulma-podcast
rss-poliisin-mieli
utelias-mieli
rss-lihavuudesta-podcast
rss-duodecim-lehti
rss-laakaripodi
rss-opeklubi
docemilia
sotataidon-ytimessa
hippokrateen-vastaanotolla
mielipaivakirja
rss-vaasan-yliopiston-podcastit
rss-mental-race
rss-ylistys-elaimille