The Elegant Universe (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Brian Greene
- First Published: 1999
- Type of Work: Science and history of science
- Time of Work: The late nineteenth century to the late twentieth century
- Setting: United States and Western Europe
- Principal Characters: Albert Einstein, John Schwarz, Edward Witten
- Genres: Nonfiction, Science and technology
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Science or scientists, Western Europe or western Europeans, Physics or physicists
- Locales: Europe, United States
Like medieval knights in their quest for the Holy Grail, twentieth century physicists have been searching for a single theory that will explain all matter and forces in the universe. Albert Einstein, the first great quester, once described himself as working “like a man possessed” to discover the unified field theory that would combine gravity and electromagnetism. Wolfgang Pauli, Einstein’s colleague at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, once commented on his friend’s fruitless search to reconcile the irreconcilable: “What God has put asunder, let no man join...
[The entire page is 2104 words long]
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