The End of Physics by David Lindley
For more than a century, physicists have hoped that they were closing in on the Holy Grail of modern science - a unifying theory that would make sense of the entire physical world, from the subnuclear realm of quarks and gluons, to the very moment of the creation of the universe. This book is a history of the attempts to find a "theory of everything", arguing that it will never be found, and warning that the compromises necessary to produce a final theory may well undermine the rules of doing good science. At the heart of the book is the rise of the particle physicists, and their attempts to reach far out into the cosmos for a unifying theory. Working beyond the grasp of the largest telescopes or the most powerful particle accelerators, and unable to subject their findings and theories to experimental scrutiny, they have moved into a world governed by mathematical and highly speculative theorizing, none of which can be empirically verified. David Lindsey argues that a theory of everything derived from particle physics will be full of untested - and untestable - assumptions. And if physicists yield to such speculation, the field will retreat from the high ground of science, becoming instead a modern mythology. This would surely be the end of physics as it is known today.
Lindley, David: - David Lindley is Professor Emeritus at the University of Leeds, where he taught for many years in the School of English. He has previously edited, among other texts, The Tempest for the New Cambridge Shakespeare (Cambridge, 2nd edition, 2013) and 11 court masques by Ben Jonson for The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson (Cambridge, forthcoming). A study of the scandalous career of Frances Howard appeared in 1993, and he has written extensively on the relationships of music and literature, including a study of Thomas Campion (1985) and Shakespeare and Music (2006).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780465015481 |
| ISBN 10 | 0465015484 |
| Title | The End of Physics |
| Author | David Lindley |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Basic Books |
| Year published | 1993-07-06 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |