Paper in white the floor of the room, and rule it off in one-foot
squares. Down on
one's hands and knees, write in the first square a set of equations
conceived as able
to govern the physics of the universe. Think more overnight. Next
day put a better
set of equations into square two. Invite one's most respected colleagues
to contribute
to other squares. At the end of these labors, one has worked oneself
out into the doorway.
Stand up, look back on all those equations, some perhaps more hopeful
than others,
raise one's finger commandingly, and give the order "Fly!" Not one
of those equations
will put on wings, take off, or fly. Yet the universe "flies".
This quote is from John A. Wheeler (1911- ) on page 1208 of Gravitation:
a beautiful
treatise on Einstein's Theory of Relativity written with Charles Misner
and Kip Thorne.
I greatly admire Wheeler's ability to write a treatise on physics as
geometry and then be
able to say farewell to geometry, to dethrone it, and then welcome
it as his dog-like
companion towards his true God. Wheeler is a professor emeritus of
Princeton University
who has had the delight of meeting and working with some of the very
best mathematicians
and physicists of the 20th century. In 1939, with Niels Bohr (1885-1962)
he wrote the
seminal paper on Nuclear Fission. He worked with Einstein and even
brought his freshman
students to Einstein's home. Many of his graduate students (Feynman,
Zurek, Wootters,
Thorne ...) have done profound work.
Wheeler has worked with the best and has been face to face with Mathematical
Beauty.
He has stood upon the shoulder of Giants and declared that mathematics
is infinitely useful
and yet limited. He is familiar with the logician Kurt Gödel (1906-1978),
however, what
really makes him say that mathematics is limited is his understanding
of the quantum principle.
This is frightening material. It is impossible to understand.
Hang on, dear reader, we are going to make a path and smooth the way.
You won't learn what mathematicians know and feel. But you'll get your
reward.
Click on the wizard for an invocation of Albert Einstein & Johann
Wolfgang Goethe
and also for a vision of the grand plan
for this Renaissance series.
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