FANG LlZHI
Form
and
Physics
Beauty is not the exclusive domain of literature, art, and religion. It also
belongs to physics. In fact, the first established group of esthetes among
the ancient Greek philosophers was the Pythagorean School, made up of
mathematicians, astronomers, and physicists. "Beauty" is still a common
word in the vocabulary of physics. When a paper is read at a conference
or a published scientific result is evaluated, one often hears phrases such as
"a
beautiful
theory," or "a model which is much more
elegant
than the
previous one." Although this esthetic sense within the realm of science is
hard to pin down or formalize, it is nevertheless something felt by almost
everyone who has undertaken the study ofphysics.
The Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann (1844-1906) had the
following reaction to the work of James Clerk Maxwell(1831-79), the
first professor of experimental physics at Cambridge University:
A musician, upon hearing the first few measures of a piece of music,
can distinguish whether the piece is by Mozart, Beethoven, or Schu–
bert. In the same way, a mathematician, upon reading the first few
pages of a proof, can tell whether it is the work of Cauchy, Gauss,
Jacobi, or Helmholtz. A high degree of external elegance, with
sometimes the feeblest underlying skeletons of conclusions, charac–
terizes the French, whereas the English, especially Maxwell, are char–
acterized by a great dramatic force. Who does not know Maxwell's
dynamical theory of gases? First, the variations of the velocities ma–
jestically develop. Then from one side the equations of state make
their entrance, from the other side enter the equations for central
motion, and the chaos of formulas surges higher and higher. Sud–
denly the four words resound: "Put n=S." The malevolent demon V
[velocity]
vanishes, just as if in a piece of music a wild, continually
disruptive figure in the basses had become silent.
As
if by a stroke of
magic, all that previously seemed uncontrollable is put in order.
There is no time to say why this or that substitution is made; let any–
one who does not
Jeel
it lay the book down. Maxwell is no pro–
ducer of program music; he does not need to provide explanatory
notes. The formulas freely spew forth result after result, until, in a
fi–
nal surprising effect, the thermal equilibrium of a heavy gas is ob-
Editor's Note: This essay first appeared in
Wenxlle Pingi"n
(Literary
Review)
in May of
1988.
