Dream of the Ultimate Theory

Author: S. Weinberg
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-05-01
Features: This book tells of a great adventure in reason, in search of the ultimate theory of nature. The dream of intermediate theories has inspired much of today's high-energy physics research. Although we do not yet know what the ultimate theory will be or how many more years it will take to find it, we believe we have already begun to dimly glimpse its shadow. Chapter Prologue In the century. From physics, we have seen the frontiers of scientific knowledge extend in dazzling fashion. Einstein's special and general relativity forever changed our understanding of space, time, and gravity. Quantum mechanics took a more radical break from the past, even changing the language we use to describe nature: replacing the particle with a wave function and probability, we learned to speak of position and velocity. The combination of relativity and quantum mechanics gave rise to a new worldview, in which matter lost its central position, replaced by the principle of symmetry, some of which still lie behind the universe today. On this basis, we have built successful theories of electromagnetism and the strong and weak interactions of fundamental particles. We often feel like Siegfried, after drinking dragon's blood, astonishingly discovering that we can understand the songs of birds.