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Perfect Symmetry takes us to the
frontier of scientific thinking, to the state of the universe
before the big bang (a time before the first one-billionth
of a second) and before that to the creation of the universe
out of absolutely nothing. Dr. Heinz Pagel, Executive Director
of the New York Academy of Sciences, writes with unmatchable
elegance about the complex questions raised by the new physics.
Perfect Symmetry presages a time in the near future
when physicists will attain total understanding of the origin
and nature of the universe and its evolution, thus achieving
a new outlook on the creation of existence.
Pagels emphasizes the new astronomical discoveries
gained through the use of radio telescopes and earth-orbiting
satellites. Up-to-the-minute details on the newest scientific
findings give the reader a picture of what the universe
really looks like -- the stars and their deaths as white
dwarfs, neutron stars or black holes; the structure and
evolution of galaxies; and quasars and their distribution
in space in the form of clusters and superclusters.
The theme of this beautifully written book
is the exciting new intellectual synthesis of quantum physics
-- the study of the microcosm -- with cosmology -- the study
of the macrocosm. Without using mathematical language, Pagels
illumines the most revolutionary ideas in modern physics.
There is a full presentation of the quantum-field theory
and the recent view that matter is made up of quarks, leptons,
and gluons. This understanding of quantum particles and
broken symmetries gives us a glimpse of the big bang --
the beginning of the universe. Today physicists have carried
these ideas even further, and Pagels explores their speculations
on the state of the universe before the big bang. These
physicists are thinking about the existence of an "inflationary
epoch" during which the universe expanded immensely,
an epoch of cosmic evolution, which may provide the answer
to the origin of the galaxies; and they are examining (and
devising models to describe) the creation of the universe
-- a world without space, time, or matter. Pagels holds
the view that someday soon physicists will understand the
origin of our universe and its subsequent evolution as well
as we understand stars today.
Heinz Pagels is that rarest of scientist/writers
-- one who can make comprehensible to the laymen the most
complex of ideas, synthesize disciplines to create more
than an overview, and bridge the gap to make science read
like art.
Heinz R. Pagels is Executive Director
of the New York Academy of Sciences and Adjunct Professor
at the Rockefeller University. He is the author of The
Cosmic Code: Quantum Physics as the Language of Nature.
Dr. Pagels lives in Manhattan with his wife, the historian
Elaine Pagels, and their son, Mark.
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