www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
China
Home / China / Life

Science writer unveils the art of seeing things differently

By Yang Yang | China Daily | Updated: 2016-05-18 07:55

Italian theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, one of the founders of a popular theory called loop quantum gravity, reads mostly classic literature.

In an e-mail reply to China Daily, the 60-year-old scientist says he loves the Chinese classics Dream of the Red Chamber and Journey to the West. Besides, he also reads a lot of essays on anthropology, studies of the brain, philosophy and so on. His favorite writer is Joseph Conrad.

Heading the quantum gravity research group at the Centre de Physique Theorique of Aix-Marseille University in Provence, Rovelli is now the author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. The book outsold the erotic best-selling novel Fifty Shades of Grey in Italy. It's been translated into 34 languages and a Chinese version is coming out.

 Science writer unveils the art of seeing things differently

Carlo Rovelli offers in his new book enlightening lessons about modern science. Basso Cannarsa / Provided to China Daily

"Originally, we were very curious about how a physics book of a mere 96 pages can beat a best-selling erotic novel," says Wu Wenjuan, editor in charge of introducing the book at China South Booky Culture Media Co.

"But after reading it, we found such an elegant and concise book full of passion inspiring you to understand the world from a totally different angle and urging you to think about your existence and the limit of your knowledge."

The volume actually contains only six lessons on physics themes, including Albert Einstein's general relativity, quantum mechanics, the structure of the cosmos, elementary particles, grains of space, and black-hole thermodynamics.

The last chapter returns to human beings: How humans understand the world as an impossibly minor player that "will not last long" on Earth, because "We belong to a short-lived genus of species. All of our cousins are already extinct. What's more, we do damage", as he puts in the book.

In graceful language, Rovelli concisely explains the greatest revolution in physics in the 20th century, depicting not only the reach and beauty of science but also "reveal (ing) to us just how vast is the extent of which is still not known", as he writes in the book.

Li Miao, professor at the School of Physics and Astronomy of Sun Yet-Sen University, writes in the preview of the Chinese version: "There is not a single difficult expression that will exclude readers who know little of modern sciences."

Li proofread the book and has also written his own books to popularize physics in China. "Meanwhile, the poetic writing is full of passion."

Inspired by his girlfriend, two years ago Rovelli started writing short articles about quantum, gravity, and his research on quantum gravity for Il Sole 24 Ore, an Italian financial newspaper.

These received much notice in Italy and have been expanded into the book.

The core idea is often simple after you eliminate extraneous details, he says.

For instance, the work of Copernicus in the 16th century is very technical and complicated, but his discovery can be stated simply: 'The Earth turns on itself and around the sun'," Rovelli says. So he tried to do the same for the discoveries of modern physics.

He starts the first chapter, the proposition of general relativity, from Albert Einstein's "loafing aimlessly", pointing out the value of wasting time for young talents.

"In his youth, Albert Einstein spent a year loafing aimlessly. You don't get anywhere by not 'wasting' time - something, unfortunately, which the parents of teenagers tend frequently to forget."

In explaining the complicated genius theory, Rovelli connects his personal experience as an undergraduate in Calabria, Italy.

Reading a rodent-gnawed textbook, he says, "every 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 imagined by Einstein".

Rovelli compares the uplifting epiphany moment to the appreciation of artistic works: Mozart's Requiem, Homer's Odyssey, the Sistine Chapel and King Lear.

Li Min, astrophysicist and secretary-in-general with Jiangsu Astronomy Association, shares that view. He says that like artists and writers, the most brilliant talent of a scientist lies not in his or her strong logic, but in intuition and imagination.

Science begins with a vision. Scientific thought is fed by the capacity to see things differently than they have previously been seen, Rovelli writes.

Besides beguiling important scientific discoveries, Rovelli also presents the perseverant attempts of the most brilliant minds in the 20th century to cross the ocean of the unknown to see a "simpler, deeper order" of the cosmos, to solve the problem that made Einstein's head hurt.

"This is what we call the spirit of science, which is the most important aspect that popular science readings should advocate," says Li Min.

yangyangs@chinadaily.com.cn

Editor's picks
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 欧美一级专区免费大片 | 日本黄网在线观看 | 91成人国产网站在线观看 | 国产精品久久久久影院色 | 欧美高清在线视频一区二区 | 欧美人性影片免费看 | 中文精品视频一区二区在线观看 | 中文字幕在线视频网 | 国产成人精品999在线 | 日韩一区二区在线播放 | 宫女淫春 | 一区二区国产在线播放 | 高清国产美女一级a毛片录 高清国产亚洲va精品 | 日韩欧美一区二区三区在线 | 国产免费亚洲 | 日韩经典中文字幕 | 日本亚州视频在线八a | 国产精品特级毛片一区二区三区 | 亚洲影院手机版777点击进入影院 | 国产成人精品视频一区 | 亚洲美女福利视频在线 | 成人欧美日韩视频一区 | 一区二区三区在线 | 日本 | 中文字幕一区二区三区亚洲精品 | 日韩欧美国产成人 | 91麻精品国产91久久久久 | 亚洲欧美日韩色 | 国产网友自拍 | 亚洲b| 国产片一级aaa毛片视频 | 成人国产网站v片免费观看 成人国产午夜在线视频 | 欧美三级真做在线观看 | 国产色手机在线观看播放 | 国内黄色精品 | 亚洲综合色自拍一区 | 黄片毛片在线观看 | 欧美视频第一页 | 日本精品一区二区三区在线视频一 | 日本一级特黄特色大片免费视频 | 国产4tube在线播放 | 手机毛片免费看 |