Ten Patterns That Explain the Universe by Brian Clegg
MIT Press
Paperback
ISBN: 9780262542869
224 pp.
6.1 in x 9.2 in
September 2021**This is an ARC provided by MIT Press and NetGalley. The book will be published in September 2021.**
Brian Clegg has written many popular science books on astrophysics, cosmology, mathematics, and other topics. Ten Patterns That Explain The Universe is aimed at the general reader interested in the fundamental principles of the physical and biological world.
The book follows ten major patterns in the world of physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and climatology. This lavishly illustrated collection filled with vector diagrams and photographs is intended for anyone interested in the scientific details of natural phenomena which usually make the news headlines but are not discussed in a scientifically oriented manner per se. An undergraduate-level understanding of physics and mathematics might be helpful in following the first half of the book which for me personally was exciting.
Clegg takes us through the interesting patterns studied to understand the cosmic microwave background which is the residual heat signature that remained in the universe from the Big Bang event. The role of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) is discussed in observing these patterns which are placed at Lagrangian points ( simply described as positions in space where objects sent there tend to stay put) in space. Such details like the purpose of placing satellites at the Lagrange points are easily accessible through the rich illustrations in this book. This makes the physics and chemistry section of the book worth exploring.
As a novice learner of quantum physics during the pandemic, I found the concept and visualization of Minkowski diagrams very interesting. Albeit I read books written by Leonard Susskind who makes abstract concepts easily understandable for people who do not have training in higher physics. It is always nice to get hold of texts which improve your abstract concepts. Minkowski diagrams are two-dimensional graphs that show events that have one space dimension and one time dimension. So, a spacetime diagram is a Minkowski diagram. Clegg goes further from easy spacetime diagrams to more complex spacetime diagrams like Penrose diagrams. The lines in this 2D space are shrinked or “crunched” as the distances grow far away. Further the distance, the shorter the lines get. In this way, you can actually depict “infinities” in two dimensions. We also see the basic principles of Quantum Electrodynamics and Feynman diagrams. To explain Feynman diagrams to a general reader shows a stunning ability to communicate basic scientific principles. This is the highest achievement of this book. A visit to the LHC ensues and the actual meaning of “Higgs Boson” in terms of what experiments are run at CERN and how the data is analyzed in order to know the presence of a subatomic particle is quite enjoyable to read. Even reputed journalists and writers can sometimes project phrases like “God particle” which just muddle the scientific process involved in the discovery for the general reader like us.
The chemistry enthusiasts will have to pour over the patterns of our periodic table in this book. And what a treat it is to see the alternative period tables here. See below the spiral 2D periodic table by Theodor Benfey which successfully includes the Lanthanides and the Actinides.
The second half of the book has introductions to number theory and knots in mathematics. A knot in mathematics is a closed non-self-intersecting loop that cannot be opened up in three dimensions. The first ideas were proposed by Lord Kelvin who thought that atoms were vortex loops with different chemical compositions consisting of different knot combinations. An interesting biography is mentioned about Emmy Noether (1882–1935). She was one of the leading mathematicians of her time and put forth theories of rings and fields of algebraic geometry. Her contributions in physics and mathematics are largely obscure in books of general science and technology. She worked closely with David Hilbert who invited her to join the Göttingen mathematics department in 1915. They were working on understanding Einstein’s general relativity theory at that time.
The final chapters are short and cursory excursions in cladograms, phylogenetic trees in evolutionary studies, DNA structures, and superstructures which are not as engaging as the major first half of the book. This might be my bias as a biologist because there was nothing new for me personally to learn. Also, there are far better texts to visualize DNA topology. My recommendation for biologists would be Understanding DNA by C.R. Calladine. This book has a remarkable content of the trigonometry and geometry of double-helix DNA and higher topological structures of DNA.
The Ten Patterns doesn’t disappoint. It is a quick read and visually pleasing for a nice weekend head dive in science. But readers mustn’t expect equally interesting chapters in nature and biology. If you love the intricacies of astrophysics, cosmology, and mathematics, this is enjoyable work.
