josephd

Since the first moment when Man picked up an object and used it as a tool, we have endeavored as a race to better understand the world we live in. During the rise of the Catholic Church and organized religion in general, scientists like Galileo Galilee (1564-1642), who rocked the world with his theory that the earth revolved around the sun unlike the accepted religious doctrine of the time that stated the sun and all the stars revolved around the earth. Have had to pursue their dreams of scientific discovery amidst great resistance. Galileo a devout Catholic himself was declared a Heretic by the Catholic Church in 1633 and forced him to publicly renounce his ground breaking discovery. From its infancy science has faced adversity both from the Church who saw science has trying to disprove the existence of God, and from the people of the era who were unwilling to accept what they had been taught for generations.

[image]http://www.aldebaran.cz/bulletin/2004_s2/gravitation.gif[/image]
Perhaps the man most responsible for Modern Physics is Sir Isaac
Newton. Legend has it while resting under an apple tree; Newton saw an apple fall and began to wonder about the invisible force that caused matter to fall towards the Earth. Newton's studies led to the discovery of gravity and the publication of his book Principia Mathematica. This book is thought to be the most important book ever written regarding physics. Newton is also credited with the invention of calculus the back bone of mathematical physics. Newton opened the door for modern physics and his calculations of the affect of gravity are so accurate we use them today to plot the course of our space shuttles. However, Newtons Law has a flaw. According to his laws of gravity if our sun disappeared in an instant the Earth would immediately go zooming off into space along with the rest of the planets. We know this to be false. It would take roughly 8 minutes, the same time it takes light from the sun to reach Earth, for us to feel the effects of the sun vanishing. This is where Einsteins Theory of General Relativity comes in. According to Einstein, everything exists with in a fabric of space and time or "Space Time" and that extremely heavy objects like our sun bend Space Time creating a dimple in the fabric of space. The Earth orbits around a point in this dimple in space time.
[image] http://fusionanomaly.net/gravity.jpg [/image]

While both gravity and general relativity describes how object behave on a larger scale they completely break down at the atomic level. Enter the field of Quantum Mechanics. Quantum Mechanics describe how things work at the atomic level and smaller. It describes three new forces that act on sub atomic particles. They are Electro Magnetism which is responsible for radio waves, light and magnatism, the Strong Force, the force that holds the nucleolus of an atom together, and the weak Radioactive Force, which is responsible for radiation and nuclear energy. Unfortunately gravity and the other three major forces exist in complete contradiction of each other. When trying to marry the four major forces of nature the math catastrophically breaks down. In Quantum Mechanics the world is a very random place where anything can happen at any moment and it is only a matter of calculating the likely hood. That is to say if you walked into a solid wall over and over again eventually you will pass through it un-harmed, but it would take nearly an infinite number of attempts.
This theory bothered Einstein greatly leading him to saying "God does not play dice" After his discovery of relativity he made it his lifes work to discover a unifying theory. [image]http://www.yourdictionary.com/images/ahd/jpg/A4atom.jpg[/image]

String Theory attempts to unify the four theories of nature into one unified Theory of Everything. In 1970, String Theory was discovered when three independent particle theorists independantly discovered that a math formula called the Dual Resonance Modeldevised created by Veneziano. These formulas described well the motion of sub atomic particles and sparked their interest. they then realized that these formulas described tiny pulsating "strings". At first String theory was plagued by two problems; one, it cannot be tested; strings are infinitely smaller then even the smallest known form of matter, quarks. Secondly, String Theory had fatal mathematical flaws or anomalies. In 1984 two mathematicians, Michael Green and John Schwarz solve the anomalies and String Theory was re-born.

At one point there were up to five different String Theories, and then once again String Theory was saved. Edward Written introduced M-Theory uniting the five String Theories. In simplest terms, String Theory describes tiny vibrating strings of energy that exist at the sub-atomic level. These strings make up the building blocks of everything in the universe. These strings exist, as does everything else, on eleven dimensions, the four we can actively observe, height, width, depth, and time, and seven additional dimensions that we cannot observe. These seven additional dimensions are what control the motion and shape of these "Strings". In String Theory it is possible for there to be parallel universes that exist on "brains". String Theory allows for the existence of wormholes or tears in the fabric of space. The biggest and most fundamentally important aspect of String Theory is that it unites the previously contradictory Theories of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics.
[image]http://www.superstringtheory.com/basics/anims/grelc.gif[/image]
No matter how hard you try you can't teach an ant the basic of Quantum Theory. People say this is a good example of mans quest to understand the universe we live in. Some people seem to think that we are trying to understand concepts that are well beyond our ability to comprehend. Are our minds to feeble to understand the work of God as it exists in our physical universe? For centuries science has existed in stark contrast to religion. It is my belief that not only does God exist but that science will one day prove this. I think that mathematics is the elegant language in which God crafted all of creation. Galileo once said "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." Is mankind on the verge of the single greatest discovery of our race? Or are we tragicly wasting our time in an endeavor that our minds are not yet ready to understand. Only time can tell, but I believe that we are capable of a comprehensive understanding of our place in the universe and of the laws that govern our existence. This understanding may or may not forever affect the destiny of human beings as a race. It could just be another scientific discovery we read about in the papers. I truly hope not. I hope that it ushers in a new era of peace for mankind uniting us in the search for understanding.

Suggested reading
"A brief history of time" by Steven Hawking
"The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene

or you can visit
[link]www.superstringtheory.com[/link]

This article is not a Scientific paper, it gives a history and discriotion of modern scientific theorie's and my oppinions of their impact on our daily life.