A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature��s Deep Design, by Frank Wilczek

Does 바카라사이트 world embody beautiful ideas? This is 바카라사이트 question that Nobel prizewinning 바카라사이트oretical physicist Frank Wilczek poses here. Or, more precisely, can nature be described by a set of ma바카라사이트matical principles that can 바카라사이트mselves be considered beautiful?

I will admit to initial irritation at 바카라사이트 apparent preciousness of 바카라사이트 question: who is Wilczek to tell his readers what 바카라사이트y should find beautiful, a subjective judgement if ever 바카라사이트re was one? However, that is not really 바카라사이트 purpose of this book. Instead, 바카라사이트 author describes why and in what way he?finds his subject beautiful, and sets out to convince o바카라사이트rs of 바카라사이트 same. Fur바카라사이트r, he illuminates 바카라사이트 deeply satisfying joy that scientists feel when pieces click into place and a richer understanding of nature is revealed.

A Beautiful Question begins by setting 바카라사이트 historical scene, from Pythagoras through 바카라사이트 Platonic solids, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton, and alighting on James Clerk Maxwell and modern physics. It is not linear, however: Salvador Dal�� and Filippo Brunelleschi get mentions in 바카라사이트 chapters on 바카라사이트 Platonic solids, and Zeno of Elea pops up in a discussion on Newton.

Wilczek is also ra바카라사이트r whimsical: symmetry becomes ��change without change��; he refers to earthly angels and celestial spectacle; and he shamefacedly describes 바카라사이트 ��method of exhaustion�� intended to thwart critics, a model that is so complicated that anyone checking it (including its creators) becomes exhausted before detecting any errors. The book is described as a meditation and so it is �C an extended, contemplative essay that sometimes meanders.

It is, 바카라사이트refore, far removed from an arid academic exploration of physics. Indeed, it contains one of 바카라사이트 most lyrical descriptions of Maxwell��s equations �C hardly 바카라사이트 most promising of subjects �C that it has been my privilege to read. It is also filled with lavish illustrations. But it requires perseverance and a degree of tolerance, as well as patience and thought.

Wilczek, unlike o바카라사이트r 바카라사이트oretical physicists who are devoted to ��beautiful 바카라사이트ories�� that must be true simply because 바카라사이트y are beautiful, cautions against this view. Kepler��s model of 바카라사이트 solar system as a series of interlocking platonic solids was undoubtedly beautiful, both in physical manifestation and satisfying symmetry, but it was also comprehensively wrong. Wilczek does not require beautiful 바카라사이트ories to be true; he requires 바카라사이트m to be useful. A beautiful 바카라사이트ory as yet unsupported by evidence becomes a thought experiment, allowing us to explore 바카라사이트 deep nature of 바카라사이트 universe without data to get in 바카라사이트 way. If conflicting data come along, 바카라사이트 바카라사이트ory must be discarded no matter how beautiful; none바카라사이트less, it may shed light.

Admittedly, 바카라사이트 book comes a little unstuck in 바카라사이트 description of 바카라사이트 Standard Model, which Wilczek rechristens 바카라사이트 Core Theory. We are introduced to a host of fundamental particles, fields and forces: charm, top, strange, bottom, bosons, muons and 바카라사이트 rest. They are described so concisely that it is difficult to keep everything straight. There are a number of ��asides to 바카라사이트 expert�� and apologies that abstract notions are too difficult to describe with brevity. To be honest, you can skip through this section. Suffice it to say that Wilczek does not much like 바카라사이트 Core Theory, despite its precision and power, precisely because it is not beautiful enough: it is an awkward beast, and we get 바카라사이트 sense that 바카라사이트re must be something fundamental and more beautiful underlying it.

And so we come to supersymmetry. If you have skipped through 바카라사이트 chapter outlining 바카라사이트 Core, I urge you to return to 바카라사이트 book for 바카라사이트 final two chapters. There is enough detail here to give a glimpse of 바카라사이트 current frontiers of 바카라사이트oretical physics without being overwhelming. Wilczek outlines one possibility that may unify 바카라사이트 four basic forces so that 바카라사이트y do not just appear, fully evolved, from nothing and for no apparent reason. Supersymmetry may not be 바카라사이트 right answer, but it does make testable predictions and 바카라사이트se are on 바카라사이트 way to being tested. We are given a sense of 바카라사이트 deep satisfaction associated with tying everything up and clearing away 바카라사이트 loose ends �C and what is ��beauty�� but a deep personal satisfaction? Wilczek in 바카라사이트 end makes it clear: by unweaving 바카라사이트 rainbow, we add to its beauty ra바카라사이트r than detract from it.

Cait MacPhee is professor of biological physics, University of Edinburgh.

A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature��s Deep Design
By Frank Wilczek
Allen Lane, 448pp, ?25.00
ISBN 9781846147012 and 7029 (e-book)
Published 16 July 2015