Synopses & Reviews
Science is hugely influential in our culture. At the heart of many of the most extraordinarily successful scientific theories lie equations. Yet, for many of us, these equations have been a closed book. Their difficult
form has often acted as an obstacle to any understanding of their significance and they have even come to embody the mystery and terror of modern
science.
It Must be Beautiful redresses this by presenting some great equations of modern science for non-mathematical readers, attempting to convey
something of their power and beauty.
It Must be Beautiful brings together some world-leading scientists with great historians and writers about science, each with a gift for explanation. The authors each unpack an equation so that it becomes understandable, and we are entertained and enlightened by a knowledge of how it was arrived at, what it can do and its importance in contemporary culture.
Review
"A fascinating history of science for educated nonmathematical readers." Library Journal
Review
"Looks like math, reads like poetry." Wired
Review
"Each chapter is by itself justification for buying, savouring and re-reading this outstanding work." New Scientist
Review
"A book that relishes equations, which celebrates their power and beauty, and which still manages to explain rather than baffle." Sunday Telegraph
About the Author
The authors include Peter Galison, of Harvard University,
on E=mc2; Roger Penrose on Einstein's equation of
general relativity; Robert May, President of the Royal
Society, on the quadratic map; John Maynard Smith on
the mathematics of evolution; award-winning journalist
Aisling Irwin on the equations which predicted that a
hole would appear in the ozone layer; Frank Wilczek, of
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on the Dirac
equation for the electron, Oliver Morton, contributing
editor to Wired magazine, on the Drake equation,
which clarifies thinking about the likelihood of
extra-terrestrial life; and a thoughtful afterword by
Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg.