I have not met Saul Perlmutter, winner of the 2011 Nobel prize in physics. It is, however, inspiring to know he is a colleague, as are nine other Nobel laureates. These distinguished gentlemen do the same thing I — somewhat more undistinguished — do as a visiting fellow at the University of California at Berkeley in San Francisco’s Bay Area, they teach. There is much to be inspired by. For instance, while he accelerates our knowledge of the universe’s expansion, Perlmutter challenges 120 undergraduate students to explore music through the prism of science.