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Modern scientific theory describes a uniformly
perfect creation; a universe in which matter would have
been destroyed within an instant of its appearance and where
nothing that we now know could ever have happened. Human
life itself seems lopsided, as the spherical embryo is transformed
into a highly structured being with its internal organs
mirror asymmetric. The molecules of life differ from their
mirror images: the milk in Alice's looking glass would not
have been fit to drink. The mystery of how nature produces
structured asymmetric patterns from an underlying uniformity
is the focus of much current scientific research.
In Lucifer's Legacy, physicist and
broadcaster Frank Close explores the origins of asymmetry
from life to the Universe at large, and asks whether this
multitude of examples can be traced back to a single act
that took place at the origin of our Universe. Inspired
by a chance meeting with Lucifer in the Tuillerie gardens
in Paris, Close takes the reader on a sweeping tour of asymmetry
in the world around us, from the development of human embryos
to the mysterious Higgs boson. His tour culminates in the
research now underway in Switzerland, where scientists are
preparing an experiment to recreate the Big Bang and hope
to resolve the mystery of the original asymmetry. Lucifer's
Legacy describes the possible outcomes of this experiment,
and assesses their implications for our understanding of
the universe.
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