The Universe Within (29 page)

Grangier, Philippe, 90

gravitation, Einstein's law of.
See
theory of general relativity

gravitation, Newton's law of, 23, 25–26, 27–28, 29, 30, 33, 101, 172; Faraday and, 40–41, 116–17; and ocean tides, 28, 33, 117

Greece, ancient, science/mathematics in, 13, 17, 18, 51–55, 186–87, 211, 250, 253–54; cosmology and, 8–9, 20, 25, 52–53, 99–100, 102, 118, 152–53, 205; and modern notation, 167, 168, 173, 174; Pythagoras and, 8–9, 52, 53, 74, 77, 167, 168–69, 205; Raphael's painting of, 51–52, 56; and story of Prometheus, 37, 240, 242

Gross, David J., 172, 188

Guralink, Gerald, 174

Guth, Alan, 106; and theory of inflation, 107–8, 121, 141

 

h
.
See
Planck's constant

Hagen, Carl, 174

Hahne, Fritz, 161–62

Hamilton, William Rowan,
action principle of, 62–64; and Feynman's formulation, 92–93, 169–70, 171, 179, 183–84; and Planck's constant, 62–64, 71

Hartle, James.
See entry below

Hartle–Hawking proposal, 97, 142–45, 146, 149; and “anthropic principle,” 144–45, 146, 150; as “no boundary” proposal, 143, 152–53; Parmenides' prefiguring of, 152–53; Vilenkin and, 142, 143

Hawking, Stephen, 29, 52, 106, 136, 151–52; author's work with, 97, 143–44.
See also entry above

Hawking–Turok instanton, 143–44

heat, theory of: Kelvin and, 35, 56; Maxwell and, 36, 47, 48; and thermal equilibrium, 65–68, 94

Heisenberg, Werner, 56–57, 58, 59, 60, 197; and matrix mechanics, 56–57, 58, 72, 75–78; uncertainty principle of, 57, 77–78, 109, 217–19; and use of Euler's formula, 75–78

Heraclitus of Ephesus, 52, 153

Herman, Arthur:
How the Scots Invented the Modern World
, 31–32

Herman, Robert, 127–28, 130

Hertog, Thomas, 144, 145

Hertz, Heinrich, 42

hidden variable theories, 83–84

Higgs, Peter, 174

Higgs boson/particle, 5, 175, 196, 206, 255–56

Higgs field (
φ
), 107, 110, 171, 173, 174–75, 178, 188, 189

Higgs mechanism, 174, 236

Higgs potential energy [
V
(
φ
)], 175, 190

High-Z Supernova Search Team, 137

Hilbert, David, 178, 179

Hitler, Adolf, 180

Hooft, Gerard 't, 172

Hubble, Edwin, 123–24

Hubble length, 255, 256

Hubble Telescope, 119

Hume, David, 11–15, 31, 32, 152, 253;
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
, 13, 247;
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
, 11–14; ethics of, 14–15; as influence on Einstein, 14

Huxley, Julian, 229–30

Huxley, T. H., 96, 229

Hypatia, 52

 

i
(imaginary number; square root of minus one), 72–75, 92, 93–95, 168, 206; and Euler's formula, 75, 170–71; and matrix mechanics, 72–76; and time as imaginary dimension of space, 94–95

IBM
Labs, 218

Imperial College (London), 106

Industrial Revolution, 30, 32–33, 56, 239

inflation, theory of, 106–10, 136, 139–54; vs. cyclic universe theory, 149–54; Guth's proposal of, 107–8, 121, 141;
Hartle–Hawking proposal and, 142–45, 146, 149; M-theory and, 146–49; problems of, 109–10, 139–42; and vacuum energy, 140, 144, 146–47, 170, 179

information, 5–6; computer storage of, 217–18; and knowledge-based companies, 204; overload of, 68–69, 203, 209–11; security/encryption of, 220, 224.
See also
communication/information technology; computers; internet

Institute for Theoretical Physics (University of Copenhagen), 59, 126

integral sign, 169–71

Intel, 217

International Linear Collider, 236–37

internet, 6, 19, 68, 167, 220, 252; collaborative knowledge on, 203, 211; companies based on, 204; and education, 5, 203, 211–12, 255; predicted use/problems of, 227–28, 230

 

Jewish scientists/scholars: discriminatory treatment of, 59–60, 178, 199; and Nazi regime, 180

Johns Hopkins University, 137

 

Kelly, Mervin, 214, 215, 216

Kelvin, Lord (William Thomson), 34–35, 44, 213; and theory of heat, 35, 56; and
Treatise on Natural Philosophy
, 35

Kenya, 22, 166

Kepler, Johannes, 25

Keynes, John Maynard, 24

Khartoum, University of, 164

Kibble, Tom, 174

King's College (London), 36, 43, 251

Kirchhoff, Gustav, 44

Klein, Felix, 178, 179

Kobayashi, Makoto, 173

kosmos
(universe), 99–100

Krauss, Lawrence:
A Universe from Nothing
, 246–47

Kurlbaum, Ferdinand, 64

 

Landau, Lev D., and “Landau ghost,” 188

Large Hadron Collider, 5, 47, 107, 175, 205, 236–37

Laughlin, Robert, 235

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, 62

Lemaître, Georges, 123–25, 127, 136, 154; and big bang theory, 124–25, 228; “Primeval Atom” hypothesis of, 124–25, 143

Lenard, Philipp, 69

Lenz, Heinrich, 44

Leonardo da Vinci, 16–17;
The Last Supper
, 17;
Mona Lisa
, 17

Lesotho, author's teaching post in, 158–59

Leuven, University of, 144

libraries, 55, 223–24

light: colour of, 28, 35, 47, 61–62, 64, 68, 123–24; and “double-slit experiment,” 78–79; and electromagnetism, 42–48, 101, 110–13; energy packets of (photons), 58, 61–72, 78–79, 93, 103, 148, 175; Leonardo's understanding of, 17; and mass-energy equivalence, 113–16; and photoelectric effect, 58, 69; spectrum of, 47, 62, 64, 128, 131–32; speed of, 45, 84, 89–90, 104–5, 110–17, 138–39, 193.
See also
electromagnetism; photons; quantum theory

Linde, Andrei, 106

Lorentz, Hendrik, 47, 58; and Lorenz contraction, 113, 138–39; and Lorentz transformation, 112–13, 115, 116

 

Maasai people, 7

Mandela, Nelson, 3, 50, 160

Mandela, Winnie, 160

Manutius, Aldus, 55

Marx, Karl, 6

Maskawa, Toshihide, 173

mass-energy equivalence, Einstein's formula of (
E
=
mc
2
), 113–16

mass media, 225–26

mathematics: in academic curriculum, 10, 32, 34; of complex numbers, 74–77, 168–71; of curved space, 118, 147; development/early history of, 7–9; Dirac on, 156, 183, 185–87; of Euler's formula, 75, 92, 170–71; Galileo and, 18, 20; Hume on, 12, 13; of imaginary numbers, 72–76, 92, 93–95, 168, 206; Leonardo on, 16–17; of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory, 42–46, 210; and music, 9, 19, 75; Newton's work in, 23–31, 43, 101; and physics, 19–21; Pythagorean, 8–9, 77, 167, 168–69; and quantum computing, 220, 222, 224; and study of nature/world, 15–19.
See also
algebra; arithmetic; calculus; geometry;
individual scientists/mathematicians

matrix mechanics (Heisenberg), 56–57, 58, 72, 75–78; number
i
and, 72–76

Maupertuis, Pierre-Louis, 62

Maxwell, James Clerk, 1, 33–36, 49, 50, 109, 206, 213; education of, 34–35; and Einstein's theory of special relativity, 47, 101–2, 110–11, 112; and electromagnetic theory, 34, 36, 39, 42–48, 56, 61, 63, 84, 92, 101, 110–12, 115, 172, 174, 175, 210; and Faraday, 42–43, 45; and force field theory, 42–46, 80, 172, 174, 199; and Lorentz's theories, 112–13, 115, 116; and Newton's theories, 33, 43, 47; public outreach by, 251–52; and quantum theory, 46, 48, 61, 92, 101–2; and speed/nature of light, 45–46, 47, 101, 111, 112;
Yang–Mills theory and, 172, 174

McLuhan, Marshall, 225–27, 230;
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
, 225

Merchant Venturers' Technical College (Bristol), 182

microscopes, 20, 235.
See also
Large Hadron Collider

microwaves, 47, 105–6, 111, 119; and background radiation, 127–33, 214, 151–52.
See also
radiation, cosmic microwave

Milky Way, 29, 122

Mills, Robert, 172; and Yang–Mills theory, 172, 174

Minkowski, Hermann, 94, 178

MinutePhysics (YouTube channel), 252

momentum, 177–78; conserved quantities and, 177–78, 179; of electron, 71, 72, 77

Moore's law, 170, 217, 223, 237

motion, Newton's laws of, 26–31, 33, 47, 62–63, 101, 113, 114

M-theory, 99, 146–49, 193–94

“multiverse,” 194–95, 208, 256

Murdoch, William, 213

music, 230, 249, 252; in academic curriculum, 10; in ancient world, 9, 159; digital creation/reproduction of, 68; in mass media age, 225; mathematics and, 9, 19, 75

 

Nabta Playa (Egypt), ancient stone calendar circle at, 8

NASA
(National Aeronautics and Space Administration): Apollo program of, 22, 23, 129;
COBE
satellite of, 130–36

Nature
(journal), 124

Navy, U.S.: Bureau of Ordnance, 126

Newton, Sir Isaac, 9, 21, 23–31, 77, 80, 97, 101–2, 111, 177, 197, 205, 212; and concept of classical universe, 20, 25–26, 30, 48, 56–95, 112, 118–19, 206, 210; and electromagnetic theory, 33, 40–41, 43, 47; and invention of calculus, 26, 43, 101; and law of gravitation, 23, 25–26, 27–28, 30, 33, 40, 47, 101, 116–19, 172; and laws of motion, 26–31, 33, 47, 62–63, 101, 113, 114; library of, 223;
Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
[
Principia
], 30

Ngorongoro Crater (Tanzania), 7

Nietzsche, Friedrich, 154

Nobel Prize in physics, 58, 137, 157, 214, 216–17, 247

Noether, Emmy, 176–81, 199; Einstein's tribute to, 180–81; teaching career of, 178–79, 180; and theorem of conserved quantities, 176–78, 179–80

notation, scientific: and Dirac's “bra-ket,” 181; of formula for all known physics, 167–76; use of Greek in, 167, 168, 173, 174

nuclear bomb, 10, 116, 125–26

Nyerere, Julius Kambarage, 22

 

Ohm, Georg, 44

Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania), 7

“Omega Point” (Teilhard de Chardin), 229

Oxford University, 31, 161

 

Page, Larry, 166

Paris-Sud XI, Université (Orsay, France), 161

Parmenides of Elea, 52, 152–53

particle physics, 46, 58, 91, 148, 171–76; Bell's Theorem and, 83–91, 233–34; Dirac's equation and, 92, 172–73, 174, 175–76, 182–83, 196, 199; Higgs field and, 107, 110, 171, 173, 174–75, 178, 188, 189; Maxwell–Yang–Mills force field theories of, 42–46, 80, 172, 174, 199; Schrödinger's wave equation and, 57, 76–77, 168–71, 186; wave-particle duality and, 78–80; Yukawa–Kobayashi–Maskawa matter particle mass term and, 173

Pauli, Wolfgang, 59, 82; exclusion principle of, 59; spin theory of, 59, 84

Peebles, James, 130, 133

Penzias, Arno, 128, 129–30, 131, 133

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (Waterloo, Ont.), 251

Perlmutter, Saul, 137

photoelectric effect (Einstein), 58, 69

photons, 58, 61–72, 103, 148; and double-slit experiment, 78–79, 93; as force-carrier particles, 175

physics: development of, 195–97, 255–57; Galileo and, 20–21; and information age, 209–39; mathematics and, 19–21; new applications of, 195; Newton's work in, 23–31, 33, 223; one-line formula of, 167–201; public outreach and, 251–52; and quantum theory, 91–95.
See also
classical physics/universe; formula for all known physics; particle physics; quantum theory

pi (π), 18–19

Planck, Max, 48; and development of quantum theory, 48, 58, 61–72, 128, 131–32, 183, 196, 210; Einstein's confirmation of work by, 64–70, 72; photon theory of, 58, 61–62, 78–79; and “ultraviolet catastrophe,” 68–69, 196; units invented by, 265n7.
See also
photons

Planck length, 108, 190, 256, 265n7

Planck satellite, 151–52, 205, 236, 237

Planck's constant (
h
), 61–64, 84, 94, 265n7; and Feynman's formulation, 92, 171; and Hamilton's action principle, 62–64, 71

Planck spectrum, 62, 64, 128, 131–32

Plato, 52, 152

Podolsky, Boris.
See
Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen critique of quantum theory

Poe, Edgar Allan: “Eureka,” 154

Politzer, H. David, 172, 188

positron, 92, 173, 182

Princeton University, 130–31, 146

Project Glass (Google), 237

Prometheus, 37, 240, 242

Ptolemy, and concept of universe, 20, 25

pyramids, Egyptian, 8

Pythagoras, 8–9, 52, 53, 74, 205

Pythagoreans, 8–9, 167

Pythagorean theorem, 8, 77, 168–69

 

quantization rule: and Bohr's application to atomic structure, 58, 70–72, 76, 124; Einstein's confirmation of, 64–70, 101; Planck's development of, 58, 61–64, 128, 131

quantum computers, 69, 91, 191, 201, 218–25, 233; applications of, 223–25; vs classical computers, 218–19, 220–22, 224; how they work, 221–22; and humans, 238–39; prime-number factoring by, 220, 222, 224

quantum electrodynamics (
QED
), 92, 183, 188

quantum theory, 91–95; beginnings/pioneers of, 56–60, 195; and Bell's Theorem, 83–91, 234; and classical physics, 48, 56–95, 115–16, 168, 171, 179–80, 183–85, 196, 206, 210, 234–35, 256; and “double-slit experiment,” 78–80, 93; Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen critique of, 81–82, 83–91, 233–34; Einstein's initial unease over, 70, 77, 80–81, 91; Einstein's work in confirming, 64–70, 72; Feynman's formulation of, 92–93, 169–70, 171, 179, 183–84, 196; later triumphs of, 91–92; and matrix mechanics, 56–57, 58, 72, 75–78; Maxwell's theory and, 46, 48, 61, 92, 101–2; Planck's development of, 58, 61–72; technological implications/applications of, 206, 214–35; and wave equation, 57, 76–77, 168–71.
See also individual scientists and theories