Lucifer's Legacy: The Meaning of Asymmetry

by Frank Close

For many centuries, scientists have investigated the "fearful symmetry" that seemed to underlie the Universe. But increasingly, it looks as though life is the result of cosmic asymmetry, and scientists are now preparing to uncover the asymmetries at the heart of the Big Bang.
As we begin a new millennium, it becomes clearer that true understanding of our Universe will come only from identifying and understanding the asymmetries that surround us. While modern scientific theory describes a uniformly perfect and symmetrical creation, we know that were that so, matter would
have been destroyed within an instant of its appearance and nothing that we now know could ever have happened. Not only cosmic life but our own everyday variety is full of other examples of asymmetry, from the human body to the molecules of life. In Lucifer's Legacy, physicist Frank Close explores
the origins of asymmetry from the molecular level to the Universe at large, and asks whether this multitude of examples can be traced back to a single event that took place at the origin of our Universe. Inspired by a chance encounter with a statue of 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 at CERN to recreate the Big Bang in Switzerland in 2005 and thus to solve this mystery of the original
asymmetry.
Vividly and engagingly written, Lucifer's Legacy reveals that whenever asymmetry occurs in Nature, it points towards deeper truths.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics, Mathematics, Essays, Philosophy

259 pages, Hardcover

First published May 25, 2000

About the author

Francis Edwin Close (Arabic: فرانك كلوس)

In addition to his scientific research, he is known for his lectures and writings making science intelligible to a wider audience.

From Oxford he went to Stanford University in California for two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow on the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. In 1973 he went to the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire and then to CERN in Switzerland from 1973–5. He joined the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire in 1975 as a research physicist and was latterly Head of Theoretical Physics Division from 1991. He headed the communication and public education activities at CERN from 1997 to 2000. From 2001, he was Professor of Theoretical Physics at Oxford. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Birmingham from 1996–2002.

Close lists his recreations as writing, singing, travel, squash and Real tennis, and he is a member of Harwell Squash Club.

Reviews

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lucifer's legacy: the meaning of asymmetry. This is a whole different way to look at the world than I have ever looked at it before now. Ow! My brain hurts! Ha! Ha! I have no idea if this is a good book or not. It’s the first one for me on the subject. I do know that it didn’t hold my attention as well as I hoped that it would.

[Paul Beaulieu · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title is misleading. I was looking for a book that would explore the topic of asymmetry and this book barely touches upon it. Instead, it gives an account of some of the main events to have occurred in the history of physics, especially from those involving electricity, cathode rays and the discovery of atomic and subatomic structure to the modern particle-collider facilities (like CERN) and antimatter. It does a decent job of explaining physics in layman's term although some of this will feel redundant and cause impatience to anyone with the high school physics education or beyond. The presentation is also noticeably jumbled. Events are unnecessarily repeated and the focus jumps back and forth in a chaotic way (perhaps the closest thing to asymmetry contained in the book).

[H. Givens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sounded like a super cool idea, but it turned out to be basically "Atoms 101" and kinda boring, especially since it's not really about asymmetry as we know it in daily life. It's interesting to know that handedness and asymmetry probably originated at the beginning of the universe, especially because of the religious association between god and symmetry, but that could've been accomplished with an essay.

[Juan Luis Basurto · Rating 4 out of 5]

A journey through asymmetrical behaviour in our world, departing from the human body and life to a bigger(smaller) picture of the universe. Well structured tale of asymmetry, but a bit slow paced at the beginning.

[Julian Onions · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting foray into asymmetry from human to biology to chemistry and then to fundamental physics. A bit different to his other books but interesting none the less.

[Kim Zinkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

B.Science.

[Shāhruq Sarfarāz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading it. Fantastic book for particle physics enthusiasts.

[S. Riehle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I learned a lot, but this is not a quick read. Its non-technical in the sense that no math is required.

[Azmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book but not an easy read.
Getting to the end was very satisfying. From sheer momentum I then read other books by Frank Close: Antimatter and Neutrino. I will probably buy "Elusive" too.

I struggled trying to remember my high school physics studies.

The author has a profound understanding of physics. He also uses analogies to explain and clarify but they are not the most commonplace: the gardens in the Tuilleries in Paris, the spires of Peterborough Cathedral and etchings by the graphic artist MC Escher.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much in the popular science genre but it does tackle some complex issues well. I am a bit closer to understanding the issues of Symmetry and CPT violation than I was before. He is a good writer and I will continue reading his works.

[Leendert · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book prompted nelia to say men are held together by willpower ...