麻豆传媒

CARLO ROVELLI remembers the first time he glimpsed the beauty of Einstein鈥檚 theory of general relativity. He was an undergraduate lounging on a beach in southern Italy, leafing through a rodent-nibbled textbook. 鈥淓very so often I would raise my eyes from the book and look at the glittering sea: it seemed to me that I was actually seeing the curvature of space and time.鈥�

For Rovelli, now a distinguished physicist at the University of Aix-Marseille in France, the simple equation encapsulating Einstein鈥檚 big idea conjures breathtaking visions of exploding universes, the gravity of planets slowing time, and space collapsing into endless holes or rippling like the surface of the sea.

This may sound like the ravings of a lunatic, says Rovelli, but it is reality 鈥� or at least 鈥渁 glimpse of reality, a little less veiled than our blurred and banal everyday view of it鈥�. It鈥檚 hardly surprising, then, that he describes relativity as an 鈥渁bsolute masterpiece鈥�, with the same power to move as Mozart鈥檚 Requiem or the Sistine Chapel.

鈥淩ovelli calls relativity an 鈥榓bsolute masterpiece鈥�, with the same power to move as Mozart鈥檚 Requiem鈥�

His brilliant Seven Brief Lessons on Physics does a remarkable job of vindicating that claim, and much more besides. In a mere 78 pages, he paints a magnificent fresco, depicting with sweeping brushstrokes the great ideas and discoveries that revolutionised physics and our understanding of the world in the 20th century. He also sketches out the remaining riddles and physicists鈥� attempts to solve them.

The result is exhilarating. Rovelli writes with clarity and verve, vividly bringing to life concepts that can often appear incomprehensible, and inviting readers to see the world anew.

Aimed squarely at 鈥渢hose who know little or nothing of modern science鈥�, his lessons are nothing like the stodgy stuff of schooldays. You breeze through general relativity and quantum mechanics. Time dilation, black holes, particles existing in multiple places at once 鈥� all are covered in the first 20 pages, leavened with well-chosen analogies and brief appearances from the main characters in this epic story of discovery.

Then, with a few simple diagrams, he helps us comprehend the architecture of the universe and get to grips with elementary particles, before rattling through the failures of the standard model and the mystery of dark matter.

It鈥檚 not just for novices, though. There is just about enough of the here and now to reward the well-versed reader. Take Rovelli鈥檚 chapter on the thermodynamics of black holes and what this tells us about the flow of time, or another devoted to a theory he and others are still thrashing out as part of the ongoing struggle to reconcile gravity and quantum mechanics.

Loop quantum gravity, for the non-cognoscenti, is the idea that space is neither continuous nor infinitely divisible. Instead it is made of grains, each a billion billion times smaller than the smallest atomic nuclei. They are called loops, he says, 鈥渂ecause they are linked to each other, forming a network of relations which weaves the texture of space, like the rings of a finely woven immense chain mail鈥�.

For his final trick, Rovelli muses on our place in the universe, the human mind and how we build our conceptions of the nature of reality. It鈥檚 a fitting way to end, even if the conclusion rambles on more than you have come to expect.

The book was a sensation in Italy, where it topped the sales charts for two months earlier this year. It鈥檚 not hard to see why: few writers, let alone physicists, capture the beauty of nature and the excitement of its discovery in such clear, rich prose.

Of course, the book is far from comprehensive. Long-winded explanations are sacrificed in favour of lean, lucid descriptions. But it鈥檚 hard to imagine a more coherent, inspiring introduction to modern physics. It really is an enchanting little volume.

(Image: NASA, ESA, J. Trauger (Jet Propulson Laboratory))

This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淐apturing the universe鈥�