Physicist Brian Greene: ‘Factual information is not the right yardstick for religion’

The theoretical physicist on distinguishing between fact and opinion, why he'd travel forward in time instead of back, and the value of religion

Brian Greene, 56, is director of Columbia University's centre for theoretical physics. His work on string theory has focused on the forms that extra dimensions may take. His latest book is Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe.

What got you into physics?
As a kid I had the same kinds of questions that most kids struggle with at one time or another: why am I here, how did I come to be here, is there a purpose to it all? I remember thinking that if there was an answer I would know it, because everyone would know it. But no one did. So it struck me that seeking an answer to those questions was unlikely to yield anything deeply interesting. Instead, I got interested in the context: not why am I here, but how did I come to be here? Not why is there a universe, but how did it come to be? And those questions take you to the heart of physics.