The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory

Greene, Brian

ISBN 10: 0393058581 / ISBN 13: 9780393058581

Editore: W. W. Norton & Company, 2003

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Titolo: The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden ...

Casa editrice: W. W. Norton & Company

Data di pubblicazione: 2003

Legatura: hardcover

Condizione: Good

Edizione: seconda edizione

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Riassunto:

An accomplished professor of physics and mathematics unravels the complexities of superstring theory for the average reader in a lucid and entertaining account, using analogies from everyday life to explain the elegant underlying principles of the universe, in a new edtion of the best-selling study, the companion to a three-part Nova special on PBS in Fall 2003. 30,000 first printing.

Product Description:

Now with a new preface (not in any other edition) that will review the enormous public reception of the relatively obscure string theory-made possible by this book and an increased number of adherents amongst physicists-The Elegant Universe "sets a standard that will be hard to beat" (New York Times Book Review). Brian Greene, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of eleven dimensions, where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter-from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas-is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy. Today physicists and mathematicians throughout the world are feverishly working on one of the most ambitious theories ever proposed: superstring theory. String theory, as it is often called, is the key to the Unified Field Theory that eluded Einstein for more than thirty years. Finally, the century-old antagonism between the large and the small-General Relativity and Quantum Theory-is resolved. String theory proclaims that all of the wondrous happenings in the universe, from the frantic dancing of subatomic quarks to the majestic swirling of heavenly galaxies, are reflections of one grand physical principle and manifestations of one single entity: microscopically tiny vibrating loops of energy, a billionth of a billionth the size of an atom. In this brilliantly articulated and refreshingly clear book, Greene relates the scientific story and the human struggle behind twentieth-century physics' search for a theory of everything. Through the masterful use of metaphor and analogy, The Elegant Universe makes some of the most sophisticated concepts ever contemplated viscerally accessible and thoroughly entertaining, bringing us closer than ever to understanding how the universe works.