Conjuring the Universe: The Origins of the Laws of Nature

by Peter Atkins

Overview

The marvellous complexity of the Universe emerges from several deep laws and a handful of fundamental constants that fix its shape, scale, and destiny. There is a deep structure to the world which at the same time is simple, elegant, and beautiful. Where did these laws and these constants come from? And why are the laws so fruitful when written in the language of mathematics?

Peter Atkins considers the minimum effort needed to equip the Universe with its laws and its constants. He explores the origin of the conservation of energy, of electromagnetism, of classical and quantum mechanics, and of thermodynamics, showing how all these laws spring from deep symmetries. The revolutionary result is a short but immensely rich weaving together of the fundamental ideas of physics. With his characteristic wit, erudition, and economy, Atkins sketches out how the laws of Nature can spring from very little. Or arguably from nothing at all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198813385
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2020
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Peter Atkins, Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford

Peter Atkins is a fellow of Lincoln College in the University of Oxford and the author of about seventy books for students and a general audience. His texts are market leaders around the globe. A frequent lecturer in the United States and throughout the world, he has held visiting professorships in France, Israel, Japan, China, and New Zealand. He was the founding chairman of the Committee on Chemistry Education of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and was a member of IUPAC's Physical and Biophysical Chemistry Division. He was the 2016 recipient of the American Chemical Society's Grady-Stack Award for the communication of chemistry to the public.

Table of Contents

1. Back to eternity2. Much ado about nothing3. Anarchy rules4. The heat of the moment5. Beyond anarchy6. The creative power of ignorance7. The charge of the light brigade8. Measure for measure9. The cry from the depthsNotesIndex

Editorial Reviews

"Atkins writes in a clear and humorous manner for the lay reader. Don't skip the notes at the end of the book. Some real gems are hidden there ... Recommended for undergraduates and general readers." —CHOICE

"Atkins provides readers with a solid understanding of modern physics in this entertaining unpacking of the notion that "nothing is the foundation of everything."" —Publishers Weekly

"Throughout, he helps us understand the importance of the underlying laws of nature, such as electricity, magnetism, and temperature, and how they touch every single moment of our lives. He also demonstrates the importance of continuing to advance the study of the world around us...Atkins pleasingly takes the laws apart, amuses himself (and us) with their parts, and then reassembles them." —Kirkus

"Conjuring the Universe was a joy to read! It is a funny, impassioned, erudite summing up of one person's ruminations on reality over the course of a lifetime... a real tour de force."—MAA Reviews

"Atkins writes in a clear and humorous manner for the lay reader."—Choice

From the Publisher

2018-04-04
A brief yet mind-twisting exploration of the laws of nature.At first blush, readers may be under the assumption that Atkins (Fellow, Lincoln Coll./Univ. of Oxford; Chemistry: A Very Short Introduction, 2015, etc.), the author of numerous scientific textbooks who has taught chemistry at universities throughout the world, is primarily concerned with cosmogenesis. He engages in economical but not simple descriptions: of how, out of emptiness, roughly 14 billion years ago, nothing rolled over and brought forth time and space ("how something can come from nothing without intervention"), or the contention that time and space could be circular, with no beginning or end. The author then moves into a discussion of Einstein's theories of relativity and velocity, momentum, moments of inertia, and isotropy. Then Atkins explores reflection and the angle of incidence and refraction and the principle of "least time." He argues that time is the best comparative measure, and all is reducible to the beauty of mathematics. The author is clearly having fun, and his enthusiasm is contagious and the writing, approachable. Thankfully, he confines equations to footnotes, where dedicated readers can continue their journeys. Throughout, he helps us understand the importance of the underlying laws of nature, such as electricity, magnetism, and temperature, and how they touch every single moment of our lives. He also demonstrates the importance of continuing to advance the study of the world around us. "Maybe there are myriad seemingly irreconcilable yet equally valid descriptions of the world waiting to be discovered," he writes, "myriad collections of mutually self-consistent yet seemingly disparate laws of nature….Whatever the future, it is good to know that as far as we can see, the universe is a rational place and that even the origins of the laws it abides by are within the scope of human comprehension."Atkins pleasingly takes the laws apart, amuses himself (and us) with their parts, and then reassembles them.

Kirkus Reviews