cherry’s Reviews > For the Love of Physics: From the End of the Rainbow to the Edge of Time - A Journey Through the Wonders of Physics > Status Update

Pioneering works of art can be beautiful, even stunning, but most often -at first- they are baffling, & may even be ugly. The real beauty of a pioneering work of art, no matter how ugly, is in its meaning. A new way of looking at the world is never the familiar warm bed; it's always a chilling cold shower. I find that shower invigorating, bracing, liberating. I think about pioneering work in physics in the same way.

No wonder we talk of experiencing emotional resonance, which can create a relationship filled with richness and depth, and overtones of understanding and tenderness and desire. It's hardly accidental that we want to be "in tune" with someone else. And how painful when we lose that resonance, either temporarily for forever, and what felt like harmony turns into discordant interference and emotional noise.

...You'll see that the sky is bright inside the primary bow, and much darker outside of it and if you carry a linear polariser on you, as you always should, you will confirm that both bows are strongly polarised. You won't be able to resist it, it's a disease that will haunt you for the rest of your life.

It's my fault but I will not be able to cure you and I'm not even sorry for that; not at all.

They dictate and explain the motion of stars, binary stars, star clusters, galaxies and even clusters of galaxies. And Newton's laws deserve credit for the 20th century discovery of what we call dark matter.

His laws are beautiful. Breathtakingly simple and incredibly powerful at the same time. They explain so much and the range of phenomena they clarify is mind boggling.

[on Newton] "His laws changed all of physics and astronomy. His laws made it possible to calculate the mass of the sun and planets. The way it's done is immensely beautiful. If you know the orbital period of any planet, say, Jupiter or the Earth and you know its distance to the Sun; you can calculate the mass of the Sun. Doesn't this sound like magic?"

The progression of shapes is lovely, and delicate, how teeny is the femur of the mouse. Only a teeny weeny little femur for a teeny weenie little mouse. Isn't that beautiful? I will never cease to be amazed by the beauty in every detail of our natural world.