Fearful symmetry The search for beauty in modern physics

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Zee, A.
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Princeton, Oxford Princeton University Press 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: DeGruyter MPG Collection - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
Table of Contents:
  • The concept of symmetry has widespread manifestations and many diverse applications—from architecture to mathematics to science. Yet, as twentieth-century physics has revealed, symmetry has a special, central role in nature, one that is occasionally and enigmatically violated. Fearful Symmetry brings the incredible discoveries of the juxtaposition of symmetry and asymmetry in contemporary physics within everyone's grasp. A. Zee, a distinguished physicist and skillful expositor, tells the exciting story of how contemporary theoretical physicists are following Einstein in their search for the beauty and simplicity of Nature. Animated by a sense of reverence and whimsy, Fearful Symmetry describes the majestic sweep and accomplishments of twentieth-century physics—one of the greatest chapters in the intellectual history of humankind.