Graham Farmelo
Director, Dana Centre, Science Museum, London
Associate Professor of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston
"Must It Be Beautiful?"
Abstract:
"Last year, the book It Must Be Beautiful: Great Equations of
Science,
reopened the debate about the value of beauty in physics. Is it the
equations
of fundamental physics that will be beautiful, as many, such as Dirac and
Einstein, assume? Or is it the theories
that will be beautiful? I shall review
the comments I have received on this from leading theorists, following the
publication of the book. I will also examine the prospects for the formulation
of a beautiful 'final' theory and look at the discomforting evidence from
cosmology that the picture of the universe that works best is not beautiful at
all, but rather ugly. I will conclude by relating the discussion of beauty to
the new biography of Dirac that I am currently researching."
For reviews of Farmelo's book, see, for example,
The Guardian
Simon Singh
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