PHYSICS is a forbidding subject to most people. And yet it offers some of the most fascinating and absorbing explanations to the slowly unfolding secrets of the universe. In an attempt to simplify physics and to entice an average reader into the subject, Giovanni Vignale has written a book The Beautiful Invisible. According to the author it is “an invitation to approach physics from this particular angle: as the science of the invisible, as a modern form of theology.”
About to be published next month, the book tries to break down theoretical physics into smaller modules, easier to chew and absorb. Using very simple language and non-complicated terms, the author guides the reader into higher physics, as the spiritual leaders try and lead the devout to the path of god, as yet unseen by them.
There has always been a controversy on the importance of theoretical physics. While several hold it as imperative to opening new doors, hitherto unexplored by experiments and experience, some hold it as a ‘waste’ of human knowledge. Vignale argues that “contrary to prejudice, theory is one of the highest forms of knowledge to which we can aspire. Building a theory is basically the same as recreating the world in away that makes it meaningful to us at all levels (not only the rational one).”
In order to buttress his point on the potential of the ‘imagined’ or ‘the abstract’ over the ‘real’ he quotes the story of Ekalavya and Drona. Ekalavya learns from the clay image (abstract) of Drona, training assiduously under its spell, to become the greatest archer. When he meets ‘real’ Drona, his dreams of archery end. It is the abstract, that which was not present that propelled him to reach heights, breaking all constraints of formality, unreached by the pupils who were learning from the presence or ‘real’ Drona.
Vignale explains the concept of symmetry. To be released and order, permanence and impermanence with the example of the falling snowflake, the magnet and everyday things. There are these catch expressions like: “You can lose a lottery with almost every number but you win it only with one number. Error always has a huge advantage over truth – so has sin over virtue.”
And the one on reversible actions: “There are two essential differences between reversible and irreversible actions. The first is that the former does not exist in nature but only in our mind: they are idealisations of real processes. The second is that these ideal processes do not leave a trace in the world other than what is strictly intended.” He explains it with such a simple example of turning a switch ‘on’ and ‘off.’ But this same reversible action becomes irreversible when the circuit is connected to a bomb and is triggered.
Unreservedly praising Einstein, the author says “Einstein’s theory of relativity ushered in the golden age of theoretical physics. After Einstein, and perhaps in spite of Einstein’s overall conservative views, physicists felt that they were no longer bound by common sense models of realty, that they had been granted permission to explore a much wider world of possibilities.”
The author has definitely tried to feed physics in a soft chewable state. But what is more catchy is his enthusiasm to promote the subject. It is an interesting book, a good introduction to everyday physics and a little more than that.
(Oxford University Press,2011, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6DP.)
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