Public Libraries of Suffolk County, New York

A beautiful question, finding nature's deep design, Frank Wilczek

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages [397]-409) and index

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index present

non fiction

A beautiful question

bibliography

Frank Wilczek

finding nature's deep design

Does the universe embody beautiful ideas? Artists as well as scientists throughout human history have pondered this "beautiful question." With Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek as your guide, embark on a voyage of related discoveries, from Plato and Pythagoras up to the present. Wilczek’s groundbreaking work in quantum physics was inspired by his intuition to look for a deeper order of beauty in nature. In fact, every major advance in his career came from this intuition: to assume that the universe embodies beautiful forms, forms whose hallmarks are symmetry—harmony, balance, proportion—and economy. There are other meanings of "beauty," but this is the deep logic of the universe—and it is no accident that it is also at the heart of what we find aesthetically pleasing and inspiring. Indeed, Wilczek explores just how intertwined our ideas about beauty and art are with our scientific understanding of the cosmos.

The question -- Pythagoras I : thought and object -- Pythagoras II : number and harmony -- Plato I : structure from symmetry : Platonic solids -- Plato II : escaping the cave -- Newton I : method and madness -- Newton II : color -- Newton III : dynamic beauty -- Maxwell I : God's esthetics -- Maxwell II : the doors of perception -- Prelude to symmetry -- Quantum beauty I : music of the spheres -- Symmetry I : Einstein's two-step -- Quantum beauty II : exuberance -- Symmetry II : local color -- Quantum beauty III : beauty at the core of nature -- Symmetry III : Emmy Noether : time, energy, and sanity -- Quantum beauty IV : in beauty we trust -- A beautiful answer?

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