134

Hirosi Ooguri, interview with author, October 8, 2008.

135

Strominger, quoted in Taubes, “Black Holes and Beyond.”

136

Xi Yin (Harvard University), interview with author, October 14, 2008.

137

Ibid.

138

Xi Yin, interview with author, October 22, 2008.

139

Frederik Denef (Harvard University), interview with author, August 26, 2008.

140

Xi Yin, interview with author, October 14, 2008.

141

Aaron Simons, interview with author, February 9, 2007.

142

Ibid.

143

J. M. Maldacena, A. Strominger, and E. Witten, “Black Hole Entropy in M-Theory” Journal of High Energy Physics 9712 (1997), http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/hepth/pdf/9711/9711053vl.pdf.

144

Juan Maldacena (IAS), interview with author, September 4, 2008.

145

Hirosi Ooguri, Andrew Strominger, and Cumrun Vafa, “Black Hole Attractors and the Topological String,” Physical Review D 70 (2004).

146

Cumrun Vafa (Harvard University), interviewwith author, September 26, 2008.

147

James Sparks (Harvard University), interview with author, February 6, 2007.

148

Amanda Gefter, “The Elephant and the Event Horizon,” New Scientist (October 26,2006): 36–39.

149

John Preskill, “On Hawking’s Concession,” July 24, 2004, http://www.theory.caltech.edu/~preskill/jp_24jul04.html.

150

Andrew Strominger (Harvard University), interview with author, February 7, 2007.

151

Juan Maldacena, “The Illusion of Gravity,” Scientific American, November 2005, pp. 57–58, 61.

152

Davide Castelvecchi, “Shadow World,” Science News 172 (November 17,2007).

153

Taubes, “Black Holes and Beyond.”

154

L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz (Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2004), p. 111.

155

Volker Braun (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), interview with author, November 4, 2008.

156

Philip Candelas (Oxford University), interview with author, December 1, 2008.

157

Ibid.

158

Andrew Strominger (Harvard University), interview with author, February 7, 2007.

159

Cumrun Vafa, “The Geometry of Grand Unified Theories,” lecture, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., August 29, 2008.

160

Chris Beasley (Stony Brook University), interview with author, November 13, 2008.

161

Burt Оvrut (University of Pennsylvania), interview with author, July 20, 2008.

162

Ovrut, interview with author, February 2, 2007.

163

Ron Donagi (University of Pennsylvania), interview with author, November 14, 2008.