Howard Smith is a senior research astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, an author on over 400 scientific journal articles, and a principal investigator on numerous NASA and international space programs. He was a Lecturer and mentor in the Harvard Astronomy Department, and served for a decade as the chair of the astronomy department at the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum where he developed public education programs, museum galleries, and films in addition to leading science research. He is also a longtime student of Jewish mysticism and publishes frequently on science and religion and their essential, complementary roles in helping us understand the cosmos and the divine. He is the author of Let There Be Light: Modern Cosmology and Kabbalah, a New Conversation Between Science and Religion (New World Library, 2006). He is active in the Boston Jewish community.