Unification

Over the past few centuries, many scientists have put forth revolutionary ideas that mold the way we think. The sun is larger than the earth, and keeps us in orbit due to gravity. Atoms are the building blocks of life. Time is of one dimension. I have been recently reading Stephen W. Hawking's A Brief History in Time, and my-my is it interesting. Many of these common-sense ideas are questioned. Although it is written in "common tongue", it's not the lightest book. Topics such as space-time, quantum mechanics, black holes and the big bang are covered. It's all quite interesting, but the book is about 20 years old, and there aren't too many pictures...teehee! PBS just recently ran a 3-hour special called The Elegant Universe, and luckily they have posted it on their website at this address.

It is a very simple show to follow,and it goes along the lines of Stephen W. Hawkings work. Many world-renowned physicists provide their input, and new theories are introduced. The one of most importance is String Theory. I highly recommend this show to everyone, I think when you start watching it, you won't want to stop. It's broken into little segments, so it's easy to stop and pick up later where you left off. It begins with Newton, goes onto Einstein, and eventually delves into the works of modern-day physics. It seems as though the underlying 'mission' of physics, ever since Einsteins unfulfilled dream has been to find a unity between quantum mechanics (the study of the extremely small objects, such as atoms) and general relativity (the study of the enormous, such as gravity, stars and black holes). There is definitely an elegance in unity, and as humans, we are usually inclined to believe that God has created an elegant world rather than a chaotic one. Up until the recent introduction of string theory, there has been a major clash between quantum mechanics and theory of general relativity. Anyway, I don't want to bore you any longer. Please, give this show a try, I guarantee it will spark some sort of interest!