Our Mathematical Universe

Our Mathematical Universe
Author: Max Tegmark
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2015-02-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0307744256

Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present and future, and through the physics, astronomy and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. In a dazzling combination of both popular and groundbreaking science, he not only helps us grasp his often mind-boggling theories, but he also shares with us some of the often surprising triumphs and disappointments that have shaped his life as a scientist. Fascinating from first to last—this is a book that has already prompted the attention and admiration of some of the most prominent scientists and mathematicians.

Physical Laws of the Mathematical Universe: Who Are We?

Physical Laws of the Mathematical Universe: Who Are We?
Author: Neeti Sinha
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2015-10-13
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1480820504

Physical Laws of the Mathematical Universe: Who Are We? sets off from the first page on an arduous and ambitious journey to define and describe a comprehensive depiction of reality that embraces the rigors of physics, the elegance of mathematics, and the intricacies of human perception. Neeti Sinha brings to bear her extensive education and research as she pursues an explanation that unites these often disparate disciplines in service of a nuanced description of the wonders of the whole universe. In the course of its exploration of this topic, Physical Laws of the Mathematical Universe: Who Are We? unites insights from the fields of mathematics and physics in light of human perception to explain the contours of the universe and the origins of its parallel forms. The work also demonstrates how major scientific conundrums find their resolution when one adopts a holistic perspective. Finally, the author uncovers the profound foundations of human appreciation for truth and beauty in the aesthetics that bind together physics and mathematics. If you look at your life and the world and wonder about their true nature, then Physical Laws of the Mathematical Universe: Who Are We? will accompany you on a journey that may test the limits of your understandings of the universe while opening to your gaze vistas you previously had not imagined.

Birth of a Theorem

Birth of a Theorem
Author: Cédric Villani
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2015-04-14
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0374710236

In 2010, French mathematician Cédric Villani received the Fields Medal, the most coveted prize in mathematics, in recognition of a proof which he devised with his close collaborator Clément Mouhot to explain one of the most surprising theories in classical physics. Birth of aTheorem is Villani's own account of the years leading up to the award. It invites readers inside the mind of a great mathematician as he wrestles with the most important work of his career. But you don't have to understand nonlinear Landau damping to love Birth of aTheorem. It doesn't simplify or overexplain; rather, it invites readers into collaboration. Villani's diaries, emails, and musings enmesh you in the process of discovery. You join him in unproductive lulls and late-night breakthroughs. You're privy to the dining-hall conversations at the world's greatest research institutions. Villani shares his favorite songs, his love of manga, and the imaginative stories he tells his children. In mathematics, as in any creative work, it is the thinker's whole life that propels discovery—and with Birth of aTheorem, Cédric Villani welcomes you into his.

The Universe Speaks in Numbers

The Universe Speaks in Numbers
Author: Graham Farmelo
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2019-05-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1541673921

How math helps us solve the universe's deepest mysteriesOne of the great insights of science is that the universe has an underlying order. The supreme goal of physicists is to understand this order through laws that describe the behavior of the most basic particles and the forces between them. For centuries, we have searched for these laws by studying the results of experiments. Since the 1970s, however, experiments at the world's most powerful atom-smashers have offered few new clues. So some of the world's leading physicists have looked to a different source of insight: modern mathematics. These physicists are sometimes accused of doing 'fairy-tale physics', unrelated to the real world. But in The Universe Speaks in Numbers, award-winning science writer and biographer Farmelo argues that the physics they are doing is based squarely on the well-established principles of quantum theory and relativity, and part of a tradition dating back to Isaac Newton. With unprecedented access to some of the world's greatest scientific minds, Farmelo offers a vivid, behind-the-scenes account of the blossoming relationship between mathematics and physics and the research that could revolutionize our understanding of reality.A masterful account of the some of the most groundbreaking ideas in physics in the past four decades. The Universe Speaks in Numbers is essential reading for anyone interested in the quest to discover the fundamental laws of nature.

Just Six Numbers

Just Six Numbers
Author: Martin Rees
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2008-08-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0786723580

How did a single "genesis event" create billions of galaxies, black holes, stars and planets? How did atoms assemble -- here on earth, and perhaps on other worlds -- into living beings intricate enough to ponder their origins? What fundamental laws govern our universe?This book describes new discoveries and offers remarkable insights into these fundamental questions. There are deep connections between stars and atoms, between the cosmos and the microworld. Just six numbers, imprinted in the "big bang," determine the essential features of our entire physical world. Moreover, cosmic evolution is astonishingly sensitive to the values of these numbers. If any one of them were "untuned," there could be no stars and no life. This realization offers a radically new perspective on our universe, our place in it, and the nature of physical laws.

Four Laws That Drive the Universe

Four Laws That Drive the Universe
Author: Peter Atkins
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 142
Release: 2007-09-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0191647632

The laws of thermodynamics drive everything that happens in the universe. From the sudden expansion of a cloud of gas to the cooling of hot metal, and from the unfurling of a leaf to the course of life itself - everything is directed and constrained by four simple laws. They establish fundamental concepts such as temperature and heat, and reveal the arrow of time and even the nature of energy itself. Peter Atkins' powerful and compelling introduction explains what the laws are and how they work, using accessible language and virtually no mathematics. Guiding the reader from the Zeroth Law to the Third Law, he introduces the fascinating concept of entropy, and how it not only explains why your desk tends to get messier, but also how its unstoppable rise constitutes the engine of the universe.

Trick or Truth?

Trick or Truth?
Author: Anthony Aguirre
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2016-02-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319274953

The prize-winning essays in this book address the fascinating but sometimes uncomfortable relationship between physics and mathematics. Is mathematics merely another natural science? Or is it the result of human creativity? Does physics simply wear mathematics like a costume, or is math the lifeblood of physical reality? The nineteen wide-ranging, highly imaginative and often entertaining essays are enhanced versions of the prize-winning entries to the FQXi essay competition “Trick or Truth”, which attracted over 200 submissions. The Foundational Questions Institute, FQXi, catalyzes, supports, and disseminates research on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology, particularly new frontiers and innovative ideas integral to a deep understanding of reality, but unlikely to be supported by conventional funding sources.

After Physics

After Physics
Author: David Z Albert
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2015
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0674731263

Here the philosopher and physicist David Z Albert argues, among other things, that the difference between past and future can be understood as a mechanical phenomenon of nature and that quantum mechanics makes it impossible to present the entirety of what can be said about the world as a narrative of “befores” and “afters.”

Smashing Physics

Smashing Physics
Author: Jon Butterworth
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2014-05-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1472210328

The discovery of the Higgs boson made headlines around the world. Two scientists, Peter Higgs and François Englert, whose theories predicted its existence, shared a Nobel Prize. The discovery was the culmination of the largest experiment ever run, the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. But what really is a Higgs boson and what does it do? How was it found? And how has its discovery changed our understanding of the fundamental laws of nature? And what did it feel like to be part of it? Jon Butterworth is one of the leading physicists at CERN and this book is the first popular inside account of the hunt for the Higgs. It is a story of incredible scientific collaboration, inspiring technological innovation and ground-breaking science. It is also the story of what happens when the world's most expensive experiment blows up, of neutrinos that may or may not travel faster than light, and the reality of life in an underground bunker in Switzerland. This book will also leave you with a working knowledge of the new physics and what the discovery of the Higgs particle means for how we define the laws of nature. It will take you to the cutting edge of modern scientific thinking.

The Character of Physical Law

The Character of Physical Law
Author: Richard P Feynman
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2007-09-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0141956119

Collecting legendary lectures from freewheeling scientific genius Richard P. Feynman, The Character of Physical Law is the perfect example of his gift for making complex subjects accessible and entertaining A series of classic lectures, delivered in 1960 and recorded for the BBC. This is Feynman's unique take on the problems and puzzles that lie at the heart of physical theory - with Newton's Law of Gravitation; on whether time can ever go backwards; on maths as the supreme language of nature. Demonstrates Feynman's knack of finding the right everyday illustration to bring out the essence of a complicated principle - eg brilliant analogy between the law of conservation energy and the problem of drying yourself with wet towels. 'Feynman's style inspired a generation of scientists. This volume remains the best record I know of his exhilarating vision' Paul Davies