Abstract
The goal of physics is to look for the truth behind the physical phenomena. Where is the place for the beauty then? The truth can be in principle ugly in one case and aesthetically pleasing in another. Nevertheless, many physical theories can be considered as beautiful and are often formulated with aesthetic criteria in mind. These criteria include the ability to explain a lot starting from a little and/or some form of symmetry. Several examples of beautiful laws will be discussed along with opinions of particle physicists on beauty.
Highlights
“Beauty is truth, truth is beauty”, the closing line of John Keats’s Ode on a Grecian Urn, draws attention of literary critics and of scientists who often quote it when reflecting on the beauty they see in nature
As a scientist representing one of those most abstruse fields, I will look at views of physicists who valued beauty dearly, give criteria for what they mean/meant by beauty followed by examples of beautiful physical laws, and take a look at some dissenting opinions
A British physicist and science writer, argues “The measure of the success of a scientific theory is, a measure of its aesthetic value, since it is a measure of the extent to which it has introduced harmony in what was before chaos” [3]
Summary
“Beauty is truth, truth is beauty”, the closing line of John Keats’s Ode on a Grecian Urn, draws attention of literary critics and of scientists who often quote it when reflecting on the beauty they see in nature. Bonilla refers to the former as ‘the Platonists’ since their view is usually associated with the idea that the ultimate explanation of the universe must possess beauty The latter group he calls ‘Sceptics’ and claims this position is “the most common within the philosophers of science, and I would venture to say within most practicing scientists outside the most abstruse fields of quantum physics and higher mathematics”. He labels Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist, as Sceptic, quoting his famous line “it doesn’t matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are: if it doesn’t agree with experiment, it’s wrong”. As a scientist representing one of those most abstruse fields (particle physics), I will look at views of physicists who valued beauty dearly, give criteria for what they mean/meant by beauty followed by examples of beautiful physical laws, and take a look at some dissenting opinions
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