Lynda Williams Bio

Lynda Williams is an American physicist, singer, writer, and activist known for blending science, music, satire, and performance art. She created and popularized the persona The Physics Chanteuse in the 1990s, developing a unique genre of science cabaret combining physics, politics, and entertainment. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Wired, CERN Courier, Physics World, Physics Today, and People Magazine. Williams is also an outspoken advocate for nuclear disarmament, environmental protection, space ecology, and STEM #MeToo activism.  

Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Auburn, California. Williams' sister was actress Bergen Williams, known for her role as Big Alice on the soap opera General Hospital. Lynda pursued an early love of performance, producing her first theatrical show in seventh grade and later competitively dancing at local clubs during her teenage years. Originally majoring in political science and journalism, she developed a strong interest in physics and astronomy after watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos and attending her first planetarium show. Inspired by Helen Caldicott’s anti-nuclear activism, Williams changed her academic focus and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics at California State University, Sacramento (1987), with a minor in Physics. She later completed a Master of Science in Physics at San Francisco State University (1996).

Before launching her science cabaret career, Williams produced and performed in a series of multimedia and experimental theater works. These include:

• The Go-Go Show (1986), a multimedia performance staged at Sanctuary nightclub and broadcast on Sacramento community television.
• The Birth of Venus (1987), a multimedia science fantasy musical co-produced with Marco Fuoco, supported by a Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission grant.
• UniLang (1988–1989), a two-woman street performance and gallery show written and performed with Pamela Consulo, staged in Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Sacramento.
• Rawar (1989), a solo show performed at Gallery So To Do in Berlin and Amsterdam during the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• CyberStein (1991), an interactive, nonlinear movie and multimedia installation co-produced with Christopher Seguine, starring Bergen Williams.

Williams served as Assistant Manager of the New Genre Department at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1989 to 1992, overseeing video and digital production facilities and supporting student media projects before returning to graduate school in physics.

While in graduate school at San Francisco State University, Williams debuted her first science-themed stage production, Cosmic Cabaret, blending physics concepts with theatrical performance. The show combined original music, multimedia visuals, and science communication, laying the foundation for her later creation of The Physics Chanteuse.

While pursuing her Ph.D. studies in physics education at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Williams developed the character The Physics Chanteuse in 1996 while attending an American Physical Society conference. She premiered the act at the Midwest Solid State Conference in October 1996, producing and performing custom science cabaret songs for attendees on topics in solid state physics. Building on her earlier experience producing Cosmic Cabaret at San Francisco State University, Williams created a new approach to science communication through original music, satire, and multimedia performance geared toward professional scientific audiences.

She subsequently performed at the United States Particle Accelerator School at UC Berkeley (1997), which led to a feature in Physics Today (March 1997). Her performances combined original science songs, parodies, multimedia projections, and live banter, targeting academic and conference audiences with insider humor and advanced scientific content.

Williams' work is recognized as one of the earliest and most influential examples of science cabaret as an artistic genre.

Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, Williams performed widely as The Physics Chanteuse at scientific conferences, academic gatherings, and international events, including:

• APS Particle Accelerator Conference, Vancouver
• IEEE International Symposium on Compound Semiconductors
• Cool Stars, Stellar Systems and the Sun Conference (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)
• AAPT National Conferences (New Orleans 1998, Sacramento 2004)
• American Geophysical Union Meetings (2006, 2007)
• CERN (Geneva) world premiere of Maxwell's Equations (1999)
• Swedish Science Festival (Stockholm)
• INSAP IV (International Conference on the Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena, Palermo, Italy)
• KipFest at Caltech (1999–2000) honoring Kip Thorne
• Stephen Hawking’s 60th birthday celebration at Caltech (public event and private party, 2011)

Williams also appeared on major media platforms including Good Morning America, To Tell the Truth (TV game show), NPR, CBS Radio, and numerous print publications.

In addition to performance, Williams has been an active science communicator, educator, and activist for more than 30 years. Her projects include:

• Teaching physics and astronomy at San Francisco State University and Santa Rosa Junior College (2002–2022).
• Producing planetarium shows such as Starship Earth: The Search for Life (2007) and Starship Earth: Future Evolution (2007).
• Advocating for women, LGBTQ+, and minority inclusion in STEM fields, running organizations such as Women in Physics (WIP) and delivering talks like Beating the Odds: Women in Science.
• STEM #MeToo activism, authoring the memoir-essay #AstroSH: Geoff Marcy and the Physics Showgirl in 2016.
• Environmental and anti-nuclear activism, writing extensively on the risks of nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, space militarization, and environmental threats from corporate space ventures.
• Opposing the Homeland Defense Radar – Hawaiʻi project, helping halt a major military radar installation.
• Campaigning against SpaceX's plans to conduct ocean splashdowns near Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

• 1986 The Go-Go Show, Sanctuary nightclub and Sacramento community TV
• 1987 The Birth of Venus, Sacramento
• 1988–1989 UniLang, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin
• 1989 Rawar, Berlin, Amsterdam
• 1991 CyberStein, Climate Theater, San Francisco
• 1995 Cosmic Cabaret, Climate Theater premiere
• 1996 Midwest Solid State Conference, University of Nebraska
• 1997 United States Particle Accelerator School, UC Berkeley
• 1999 CERN world premiere of Maxwell's Equations
• 1999 KipFest at Caltech
• 2001 INSAP IV, Palermo
• 2004 AAPT National Conference, Sacramento
• 2006–2007 AGU Banquets, San Francisco
• 2010 American Academy of Forensic Sciences annual meeting
• 2011 Stephen Hawking's 60th Birthday Party, Pasadena
• 2025 Atomic Cabaret UK/European Tour (planned)

• Cosmic Cabaret (2000, album)
• Parody Violation (1999, parody album)
• Maxwell's Equations (1996, educational physics album)

• "Big Bang"
• "Black Hole Disco"
• "Lovon Boson"
• "Touch This" (MC Hammer parody inspired by Paul Hewitt)
• "Carbon is a Girl's Best Friend" (solid-state physics parody)
• "Supersymmetry"
• "The Quark Song"
• "Kip Warp" (written for KipFest and Stephen Hawking’s party)
• "War in Heaven" (anti-space-war parody)
• "US Out of UK" (peace activism song for Lakenheath Alliance, 2025)

• The Go-Go Show (video, 1986)
• CyberStein (interactive nonlinear film, 1991)
• "Forensic Entomology Song" (produced for AAFS, 2010)
• US Out of UK (music video, 2025)
• "Freaky Wave" (PBS GED educational song)

• "Nuclear Threat Beneath the Seas" — Popular Resistance
• "Nuclear Propaganda Exposed" — CounterPunch
• "Public Should Weigh In on SpaceX’s Plans To Splash Down Near Hawaiʻi" — Civil Beat
• "Homeland Defense Radar Will Not Protect Hawaiʻi" — Civil Beat
• "Nuclear Power Will Not Solve Climate Change" — Common Dreams
• "Missile Defense Boondoggle" — OpEdNews
• "Billion Dollar Expansion of Missile Defense in Hawaiʻi" — Medium
• "SpaceX Wants To Increase Launches Without Full Environmental Review" — CounterPunch
• "Island Voices: Hawaiʻi Needs Input on SpaceX Ocean-Landing Plans" — Honolulu Star-Advertiser

• "Space Ecology: The Final Frontier of Environmentalism" — Natural Living Magazine (2008) (blog post)
• "Irrational Dreams of Space Colonization" — Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice (2010) (blog post)
• "U.S. Gold Rush in Space" — Space Alert! (2016) (blog post)

"#AstroSH: Geoff Marcy and the Physics Showgirl" (2016) (blog post) [7] [8] [9] [10]

• Official Website
• Lynda Lovon YouTube Channel
• Einstein Angel YouTube Channel
• Lynda Lovon Blog
• "The Go-Go Show"
• Cyberstein – Full Length Video
• Nuclear Threat Beneath the Seas – Popular Resistance
• Nuclear Propaganda Exposed – CounterPunch
• Public Should Weigh in on SpaceX's Plans – Civil Beat
• Nuclear Power and Climate Change – Common Dreams

1. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/19/science/conversation-with-lynda-jeanne-williams-come-cosmic-cabaret-with-physics.html
2. ^ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jul-30-ca-8497-story.html
3. ^ https://www.wired.com/2008/02/astronomers-are-easygoing-says-physics-chanteuse/
4. ^ People Magazine, November 2, 1998, "Songbird of Science" (no live link)
5. ^ https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/58/7/54/406860/A-physics-songbag
6. ^ People Magazine, November 2, 1998, "Williams Puts the Fizz Back in Physics," scan available.
7. ^ https://popularresistance.org/nuclear-threat-beneath-the-seas/
8. ^ https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/11/20/nuclear-propaganda-exposed/
9. ^ https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/01/public-should-weigh-in-on-spacexs-plans-to-splash-down-near-hawai%CA%BBi/
10. ^ https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/11/20/nuclear-propaganda-exposed/