The Elegant Universe

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The Elegant Universe:
Superstrings, Hidden
Dimensions, and the Quest
for the Ultimate Theory  
TheElegantUniverse.jpg
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

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.

Contents

[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 11th 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.

[edit] References

Brian Greene, "The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory", Vintage Series, Random House Inc, February 2000 ISBN 0-375-70811-1

[edit] See also

Related books:

[edit] External links