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Even with a smartphone and Google at your fingertips, some things are just hard to shake out of your brain. Take, for example, the seemingly impossible idea that energy does not flow continuously but is released in packets called quanta. Or the idea that the entirety of the cosmos, which spans some 93 billion light years, could be just one, in a multitude of parallel universes.
That's where Michio Kaku comes in. The physicist has built a powerful career as a popularizer of science to the mass market, solving some of the most complicated concepts in physics and making them better for the public. His latest book, The God Equation, describes the long-running quest to create a "theory of everything" that would combine Einstein's model of general relativity with quantum theory, and potentially unlock new understandings of space. and time.
Kaku talks about what fascinated him as a child, why subatomic particles are like notes on a vibrating string, and what we can learn from science fiction.
In your book you talk about the comprehensive theory of everything, which you see as the holy grail of Physics. Why is such a theory so important?
When Newton worked out the laws of gravity and mechanics, he set in motion what eventually became the Industrial Revolution, which lifted humanity out of agrarian misery and poverty. When Maxwell and Faraday worked out the laws of electricity and magnetism, they set in motion the Electric Revolution, which gave us electricity, radio, TV, dynamos and generators. When Heisenberg and Schrödinger worked out the quantum and atomic laws that gave us lasers, transistors, computers and the Internet. So every time physicists explain a force of nature, it changes the fate of the human race and the world economy.
And now, we're on the verge of a theory of everything that can unify all the forces of the universe through an equation perhaps no more than an inch long. Ultimately, this could once again change the fate of mankind.
It can also answer deeper questions about the universe, such as: Can we break the light barrier and reach the stars? What happened before the Big Bang? Are there other universes and dimensions? Is time travel possible?
The search for this theory has fascinated some of history's most famous scientists. What was it about this theory of everything that first sparked your imagination?
When I was 8 years old, something happened that changed my life. All the papers said that a great scientist had just died. But they printed a picture of his desk, with a book open. Over the years, I discovered that this man's name was Albert Einstein and that this book was the unfinished unified field theory that could unify all the laws of nature into a single equation. I needed to know what was in that book and why he couldn't finish it. This became the focus of my life.
Today, the leading (and only) candidate for this theory of everything is called string theory. I have had the privilege of working on this theory since 1968. My contribution was — together with Professor Keiji Kikkawa — to create the string field theory, which can summarize string theory in an equation about 2.5 cm long . However, it is not the final theory, as we now know that membranes can exist alongside string.
How would you describe String Theory?
To understand string theory, imagine a rubber band, which represents a very small electron. If you stretch the rubber band, it vibrates at a precise frequency. If you move it, it vibrates at a different frequency – call it a neutrino. If you shake it again, it becomes another frequency; call it a quark. In fact, there is an unlimited number of frequencies at which the rubber band can vibrate, corresponding to an infinite number of possible subatomic particles.
So all the subatomic particles of nature are like musical notes on a small vibrating string. The essence of this idea was proposed over 2000 years ago by the great mathematician Pythagoras. He realized that a string of a lyre (musical instrument) can vibrate with an infinite number of musical notes, each of which corresponds to a resonance frequency. He then proposed that the great diversity of matter we see around us is nothing more than the harmonics found in strings. Only music, he thought, was rich enough to understand the vast complexity of the universe.
Your book The Physics of the Impossible explores the plausibility of various science fiction concepts such as force fields, hyperspace and time travel. You are now teaching a science fiction physics course. Why are you drawn to these concepts?
When I was 8 years old, on Saturday mornings, I used to watch the old series Flash Gordon. Beam weapon. Cities in the sky. Invisible rays. Cities under the oceans. I was fascinated. Years later, I realized that my two loves, Einstein's unified field theory and science fiction, were intertwined. To understand whether science fiction is possible, believable or impossible, you need physics. I used to go to science fiction movies and count the laws of physics being broken.
Do you have a favorite science fiction technology or concept?
My favorite science fiction novels are Asimov's Foundation series because they force you to imagine a galactic civilization 50,000 years in the future where new laws of physics are unfolding. Things we think are impossible can become possible. Everything can happen . / Discover – Bota.al
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