Dreams of a Final Theory: The Scientist's Search for the Ultimate Laws of NatureKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1 בפבר׳ 1994 - 352 עמודים The Nobel Prize-winning physicist and bestselling author of The First Three Minutes describes the grand quest for a unifying theory of nature--one that can explain forces as different as the cohesion inside the atom and the gravitational tug between the sun and Earth. Wirting with dazzling elegance and clarity, he retraces the steps that have led modern scientists from relativity and quantum mechanics to the notion of super-strings and the idea that our universe may coexist with others. But Weinberg asks as many questions as he answers, among them: Why does each explanation of the way nature works point to other, deeper explanations? Why are the best theories not only logical but beautiful? And what implications will a final theory have for our philosophy and religious faith? Intellectually daring, rich in anecdote and aphorism, Dreams of a Final Theory launches us into a new cosmos and helps us make sense of what we find there. |
תוכן
PROLOGUE | 3 |
ON A PIECE OF CHALK | 19 |
TWO CHEERS FOR REDUCTIONISM | 51 |
QUANTUM MECHANICS AND ITS DISCONTENTS | 65 |
TALES OF THEORY AND EXPERIMENT | 90 |
BEAUTIFUL THEORIES | 132 |
AGAINST PHILOSOPHY | 166 |
TWENTIETH CENTURY BLUES | 191 |
THE SHAPE OF A FINAL THEORY | 211 |
FACING FINALITY | 230 |
WHAT ABOUT GOD? | 241 |
DOWN IN ELLIS COUNTY | 262 |
THE SUPER COLLIDER ONE YEAR LATER | 277 |
NOTES | 283 |
323 | |
מהדורות אחרות - הצג הכל
מונחים וביטויים נפוצים
accelerator atoms beauty calculations called carbon century chalk chemistry cosmological constant Dirac discovered discovery earth Einstein Einstein's theory elec electromagnetic forces electron electroweak symmetry electroweak theory elementary particle physics experimental experiments explained field equations final laws final theory fundamental galaxies gluons gravitational field Heisenberg high-energy idea known laboratories laws of nature light magnetic field mass mathematical matter measure million molecules momentum motion neutrinos Newton's theory Newtonian nuclei observed orbit philosophers photons physical theories Planck energy planets positivism possible predicted problem of infinities properties quantum electrodynamics quantum field theory quantum mechanics quarks reductionism scientific scientists sense simply sort space spin standard model string theories strong nuclear forces Super Collider symmetry breaking symmetry principle Texas theorists theory of gravitation theory of relativity things ticles tion total cosmological constant trons universe volts wave function wavelength weak and electromagnetic weak forces weak nuclear force Z particles