Intimate Relationship between Astrophysics and Arts

One of my constant and recurrent joys is to attend the exquisite lectures of the Unveiling the Universe series presented by TRIUMF and held at Science World. Last night we had the pleasure to see S. James Gates Jr., a renowned American scientist who has investigated such awesome and awe-inspiring astrophysical concepts, such as supersymmetry and string theory, who looks a little like Morgan Freeman and sounds a little like Denzel Washington (only somewhat higher-pitched) and who serves on President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

The title of the talk included bits in Italian (L’arte della fisica), but the lecture itself did not contain any words in that language; nonetheless, it was still confusing as it seemed to be about the Art of Physics yet at the same time to deal with how to access one’s creativity app (whatever that meant). I remember having previously read a somewhat similarly titled book The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism by Fritjof Capra and being quite impressed by it.

Towards the beginning of the lecture, Gates Jr. promised math-phobic folks like me that there would be little mathematics involved, but then he showed us slides and slides of mathematical equations. It was quite distressing indeed, while his blunt claim that you cannot be a serious astrophysicist if you do not have the necessary mathematical qualifications was a bit of a downer for me. So much for my own (dashed) hopes of being a hobby-horse astrophysicist in my spare time.

Yet at that moment, more than ever, did I realize just to what degree mathematics is similar to a given language. It has its own symbols and notations as well as grammar structure and it is understood only if you have sufficient background knowledge and experience. Gates Jr. compared it often to a musical score (another language of its own); a musician would turn it into sounds in their head whereas a layperson would merely scratch their head over the scribbles and ants crawling up and down the lines.

One of the most surprising connections in this lecture was the relationship between physics and the arts. He showed us images and short animations that were representations of some of the equations he had shown us previously. Not that it was any easier to comprehend, but it showed us that the two disciplines could be closely linked and related. I found it most stunning to hear that Schoenberg’s twelve tone technique was just another type of representation of the mathematical Vierergruppe!

Gates Jr. also made a point that religion was indeed involved with science to some visible degree. In fact, many are not aware (myself humbly included) that the first proponent of what later was to be known as the Big Bang theory was presented by the Belgian Catholic priest / astrophysicist Georges Lemaître. Initially, he called his theory “hypothesis of the primeval atom” with the even cooler tag of “Cosmic Egg”! Interestingly, his theory of an expanding universe was erroneously (!) contested by Einstein.

Although science and religion have had their fair share of shared accomplishments, each side is more often than not wary of the other. This might be perhaps due to the fact that their methodology is rather different. Science is more of a path, with many crooked sideways, while it gets things more often wrong than right.

However, when science does it get it right, it is worth all the effort and sweat. Science, overall and in Gates Jr.’s words, is less interested in truth but more in accuracy, while the latter is something that can be measured. Part of the problem is to find the right fine-tuned tools.

For instance, the space-time curvature actually makes a sound, as crazy as that may sound! Gates Jr. compared it to a creaky floor in an old house and these sound waves leave traces and can be recorded by equipment that is extremely precise and detailed. Space-time is treated as any other material and physical thing in the universe, which is, of course, mind-boggling to think of. But now it can be even measured!

In other words, once proven mathematically, the hypothesis in question would become the accepted and chosen one until, of course, a new, better and more integral theory came along. It might take some considerable time for it to happen, but patience often pays off.

For instance, some of Einstein’s theories (excluding his “blunder” about the expanding universe) have been proven to be accurate after all! As Gates Jr. mentioned at some point during the talk, the world is a quantum mechanical one and we have the measurements to prove that.

Moreover, there was a consistent focus on imagination and creativity. To quote Einstein, imagination is, in fact, more important than knowledge. At this point, Gates Jr. gave us a personal example. He was trying to think outside of the box and wanted to gain a new perspective on certain theoretical issues. This proved frustrating.

However, the best thing to do when you simply cannot crack the code is to let it be. This does not equate with giving up but it is more like giving it a rest for a while. So he turned to comics and to watching cartoons. Ironically, even though we relax our mind, it still continues, like a computer, to process information in the background, i.e. our subconscious.

And as he was watching the PowerPuff girls (I assume his daughter was watching it at the time), he suddenly had the answer he was looking for! Taking one of the heads of the PowerPuff girls as an example, he showed us on a slide how it solved the contentious astrophysical issue he had been battling with. Suddenly her head turned into another equation including strings.  

This was the so-called Muse that worked and operated indiscriminately on both artists and scientists alike. Without imagination, there would be little science after all. And it is all those creative steps from the past that have led to the technological world we enjoy today. Maxwell and Hertz would be pleased to see how their findings were to a large part responsible for today’s cellphone technology, and they might be playing Pokemon Go against each other if they were still alive.

Yet with such technological prowess, hazards also appear. The powerful equation of Einstein’s E = mc2 has led to both, a revolutionary form of creating energy as well as the threat (and actual use) of atomic bombs. It is a yin / yang situation, a blessing versus a curse, and it is our collective responsibility as humans to choose the side that helps to propel us forward instead of destroying our species.

Finally, I enjoyed his manner of responding to failure. Failure is a part of our lives and brilliant scientists like him are not immune to it either. So how did he personally deal with it? He bowled.

Anytime, he did not do well on his exams, for instance, he would go out bowling. And in fact he, according to his own account, became quite a good bowler during his years of university. He even joined championships, but fortunately for us all, he did not change or abandon his allegiance and remained true to his scientific inquiries instead of competing as a professional bowler.

It must be said that Gates Jr. was quite courageous to pick a relatively new topic for his thesis, namely string theory. The downside was that there was not too much research about it; the upshot was that during his defense he could make things up as he went along as his supervisors did not have the previous knowledge or background to challenge him in any meaningful way.  

On a final note, I had my own test at this lecture. The quite affable and humorous Outreach director Marcello Pavan from TRIUMF had claimed that he would allow younger audience members to ask their questions first; the shorter you were the higher your chances to be picked during the Question and Answer period.

So for the first time, I decided to bring my seven-year-old son along. It was his first astrophysical lecture and he has some budding interest already in the field, especially regarding black holes. However, his question was about the future of the universe; in fact, he wanted to know what would happen in a hundred years from now.

True to his promise, Marcello Pavan did end up picking my son, and Gates Jr. explained that 100 years may be a lot for us humans, but for the universe it is even less than a snapshot. To put its 13.8 billion years of existence into perspective, we are the proverbial blimp on a long endless stretching line. That is something to be humble about, although many people take themselves for the center of the universe (they are not!).  

Overall, this was one of the higher-echelon lectures I had the pleasure of attending at this outstanding series. They did not only provide snacks in the form of popcorn, but also sufficient food for thought and Gates Jr. was apart from his credentials and experience also humorous and down-to-earth. I am already counting down to the next talk; hopefully, my son will come along not only to learn something new along the way but so I could have him ask my own questions during the Question & Answer session.

American Use of Atomic Bombs to Show Power

On August 6 and August 9, 1945, the United States under Harry Truman and despite criticism from General Eisenhower and Manhattan Project scientists dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. 

The first explosion destroyed 90 % of Hiroshima and immediately and indiscriminately killed 80,000 people alongside tens of thousands afterwards due to radiation exposure; the second nuclear bomb killed 40,000 people in Nagasaki, according to the History.Com website.

The official pretext for the dropping of the atomic bombs was to defeat the adamant and even suicide-driven Japanese army and to avoid or cut down on American casualties. Dropping the bombs, according to US authorities, would lead Japan to its knees and would accelerate their complete surrender, thus ending the war more quickly in the Americans’ favor.

Although most of that is true (lives, on the American side at least, had been spared and the war came to a much faster conclusion) I believe that the main motives for dropping the atomic bombs are, in fact, comprised of other more strategic reasons.

I think that the first and main reason was to show the rest of the world the power and might of the United States with its newly acquired arsenal of destructive weapons. The second reason was that this would serve as a type of real-life experiment on the effects and consequences of the atomic bomb, both as a vivid and indelible warning to others and as a type of research project using the Japanese as guinea pigs.

Particularly after World War II, the United States was preparing to become a superpower and the capability and addition of nuclear weapons managed to reinforce that status. After the plight and chaos that had befallen upon Europe via the Nazis and the subsequent defeat of their Third Reich, the two powers that came into global focus were the United States and the Soviet Union, setting the stage and groundwork for the ensuing decades-spanning Cold War. 

  

Although the US government claimed that the atomic bombs were a necessary evil to ensure the winning of the war against Japan, in reality, the war with Japan was not a significant threat to the US at that stage. In fact, Japan was already on the losing side and it would have been only a matter of time until they would have had to surrender anyhow.

Yet this situation posed an occasion for the US to flex its muscles before the eyes of the world. This was the perfect opportunity to use atomic bombs without fearing any kind of serious or damaging reprisal by the enemy as Japan was weaker and had no manner of responding in a similar vein.

In fact, the Japanese did not have access to any even remotely destructive weapons of that ilk. By utterly destroying Japan through the devastating use of nuclear weapons, the US would then be able to instill fear in all of its enemies and adversaries and would begin to dictate global politics.

Yet my question has always been, why did the US drop two instead of one bomb and why in such successive fashion with a time span of merely a few days? There are claims that Japan was ready to surrender after the effects of the first bomb on Hiroshima, but that they were given little time to make this known or to be able to respond.

As the war was not that pressing from the point of view of the United States, meaning they were not cornered in any substantial way, why not wait at least a week before such devastating destruction? In fact, the first bombing would have sufficed, so why did they do it twice and kill additional Japanese civilians in the process?

One of the possible factors could be the study of the after-effects of the bomb. What would it be like to unleash this mega-bomb on a real city with civilians? The second plutonium-based bombing provided additional cases and data with which Americans could study more closely what happens to the cities and the people; in fact, the second bomb known as “Fat Man” was even stronger and more powerful than the first one, the uranium-based bomb entitled “Little Boy” dropped on Hiroshima.

All of this might also be the underlying motive for sending doctors and scientists to Japan for supposedly aiding them; in fact, they were more interested in documenting what happens to people that are exposed to radiation.

Seen from a moral perspective, this has been a very shameful blot in the history of the United States. Had they just dropped one bomb and shown regret at the devastation, it would have been perhaps somewhat - to a very small degree, of course – understandable. But to repeat the same deplorable and highly immoral action twice is unforgivable and reeks of injustice.

All of this puts certain matters into perspective as well. The US, as a superpower, is in the driver’s seat of deciding who can and who cannot have access to nuclear power. The recent talks regarding Iran is a clear example of that. Yet ironically, the US is also the only power in the world that has actually used nuclear weapons, so they might not be the best judge in such matters due to their own checkered history.

From a compassionate and humane point of view, I think that nuclear weapons should have been banned from the get-go, especially after one has clearly witnessed their catastrophic effects on the Japanese populace. Yet, in reality, it had the opposite effect and was used as a driving force to gain power over others, leading to the nuclear arms race between the Americans and the Soviets.

They say that today’s bombs have a much more devastating effect than the ones used in Japan. I do not doubt that. Yet I also find it hard to understand the logic behind it all. How can more nuclear weapons make any country, let alone the world, safer?

This is not a Second Amendment issue as the Founding Fathers could not have remotely fathomed what degrees of destruction this land of opportunity would be capable of inflicting down the line. Also, with recent threats of atomic weapons falling into fanatic hands or volatile presidents, this danger has only increased the gravity of this situation.

Come to think of it, how can atomic bombs possibly protect us from the enemy? This is one of the cases where using it would not only wipe out your enemy but yourself in the process. So what exactly is the point here? Who wins a war that both sides will lose?

Finally, I would like this horrible tragedy in Japan some seventy years ago to serve as a stark example for future generations and politicians in the world to refrain from ever using weapons of such kind, no matter what the underlying circumstances.

In addition, one should stay far away - preferably a million miles away - from gung-ho cowboy presidents who think that wars and bombs are the solution for world peace. It happened once in Japan, and it ought to never ever happen again!

Publication of my First Novel: Marcel Legrand’s Love Affairs

I am very excited to have my first novel published online! Love Affairs: Tales of Love, Romance, and Passion is available for purchase for only $0.99 (or less) at Smashwords as well as at a number of retailers, including iBooks! 

If you have an extra buck stashed somewhere or feel like taking me out for a virtual coffee, this could be a great way to spend your money!

If you are the cautious or hesitant type, you can download the first quarter of the book for free and then see, reflect, and decide if you'd like to purchase it, after all. Either way I fully appreciate your interest!

The only caveat is that you need to be 18 or older. Why, you may ask. Well, I think I would need to first introduce to you my French friend and alter ego Marcel Legrand.

Marcel is the protagonist of the novel; he is a philosophical womanizer / romantic poet whose self-proclaimed nickname is machine d’amour! He talks candidly - with a grain of salt and handful of humor - about his romantic conquests and endeavors. There are four main leading ladies he tries to seduce at different intervals, in addition to a couple of one-night stands thrown in, here and there, for good measure.

Although there is some sex involved, the prudish need not turn away necessarily. There's hardly any graphic or hardcore content here as this is 

more about romance and poetry and it is not erotica per se. When there is some "action" going on, it is dealt with a light touch and it is quite funny actually.

An example is when his cute neighbour asks him if he has a monkey wrench, and Marcel ends up fixing her leaky faucet. She then proceeds to strip for him as a form of recompense (I suppose) and he notices that his “elevator” has reached the “penthouse.” Humorous? Enticing? Both? Why not?

If you generally like Arash's World, you should enjoy this Frenchman’s random philosophical excursions and existential speculations and most likely be amused with some of his admittedly bizarre views on life and romance. His tales are semi-autobiographical, meaning exactly what it means: Half of the information is absolutely true, while the other half are just blatant lies.

What can I say about his style? Well, if you put Shakespeare and Benny Hill in the blender, this work will be the end result. Or rather expect more Benny and less Will in the mixture. Or take a male character of every French film you have ever seen, mash them up, and you will have a sketch of Marcel Legrand.

About 14 years ago I self-published a shorter version of Love Affairs. This was in the forgotten dark era before the existence of blogs and e-books. I say “self-publish” but actually am talking about a bunch of photocopies stapled together and given away for free to friends, acquaintances, and beautiful strangers on the bus.

It was actually a great success back then, all things considered. My friends liked what they read and tried to speculate who I had or had not bedded in the process of writing this short novel! As if this was a research project. Fun times indeed!

But I felt about my work the same way I feel about poetry: The main purpose is to get girls ... I mean their attention, of course. In fact, my main inspiration for writing it came from Truffaut’s brilliant film The Man Who Loved Women (1977) although I have to confess that I find my own protagonist somewhat more charming and endearing overall. But the general outline of both works is about the same.

Anyhow, over the years I have come to miss Marcel, this affectionate and crazy French guy. I know he is fictitious but somehow I feel a close affinity with him and decided to bring him back to life for a hopefully larger audience this time around. 

This is why I have put together a more definitive version as my e-book here; in fact, I am planning to write a sequel that depicts Marcel fifteen years later, which is hopefully to be released sometime in the next year! Please stay tuned for that!

I also want to heartily thank Smashwords for their platform and support and their genuine and admirable desire to help indie writers like me! They are professional and resourceful and, most importantly for me, they are well-organized!

Hope you enjoy what you read and feel free to leave me comments and reviews at your retailer of choice! And again, thank you, from both Marcel and me!