The Elegant Universe

The Elegant Universe:; Superstrings, Hidden; Dimensions, and the Quest; for the Ultimate Theory
Author	Brian Greene
Subject(s)	String theory
Genre(s)	Non-fiction
Publisher	Vintage
Publication date	February 1999
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages	464
ISBN	0-375-70811-1
OCLC Number	42072163

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The Elegant Universe is a book by Brian Greene published in 1999 which introduces string theory and provides a comprehensive though non-technical assessment of the theory and some of its shortcomings.

[edit] Themes

The book is divided into three themes in the following parts:

Part I: The Edge of Knowledge
Part II: The Dilemma of Space, Time, and the Quanta
Part III: The Cosmic Symphony
Part IV: String Theory and the Fabric of Spacetime
Part V: Unification in the Twenty-First Century

[edit] Contents

Beginning with a brief consideration of classical physics, which concentrates on the major conflicts in physics, Greene establishes a historical context for string theory as a necessary means of integrating the probabilistic world of the standard model of particle physics and the deterministic Newtonian physics of the macroscopic world. Greene discusses the essential problem facing modern physics: unification of Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. Greene suggests that string theory is the solution to these two conflicting approaches. Greene frequently uses analogies and thought experiments to provide a means for the layman to come to terms with the theory which has the potential to create a unified theory of physics.

[edit] Adaptations

The Elegant Universe was adapted for a three hour program in three parts for television broadcast in late 2003 on the PBS series NOVA.

Einstein's Dream
Strings The Thing
Welcome To The 11^th Dimension

The Elegant Universe was also interpreted by choreographer Karole Armitage, of Armitage Gone! Dance, in New York City. A performance of the work-in-progress formed part of the inaugural World Science Festival.

In Strings The Thing, it tells how in 1968, Gabriele Veneziano first find that Euler's gamma function corresponds to the observed behavior of the strong nuclear force and how it was Leonard Susskind who recognized that the significance of the function was that it corresponded to the dynamics of an elastic string. Michael B. Green and John Henry Schwarz shown in 1973 at a chalkboard showing that both sides of their calculations ended up with the value of 496 as the conceived of the Green-Schwarz mechanism, thus removing the mathematical anomalies of the theory. Sheldon Lee Glashow expressed his disdain for string theory, but supporters include Michael Duff, Joseph Lykken, Amanda W. Peet, Maria Spiropulu, Cumrun Vafa, Steven Weinberg, and Edward Witten with commentary about physics from Walter Lewin.