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excluded such a possibility. Despite this, the theory was published and
welcomed by the physics community. The symmetry of the Yang-Mills
theory, known as "gauge field theory," was simply too attractive to
ignore. Gauge field theory became a lively field in the 1960s, and
throughout the last twenty years, during the development of the search
for the fundamental laws of mechanics, no facet of physics has been
untouched by the theory of gauge symmetries. The modern age of the
study of high-energy physics has even been classified as the era of the
gauge field theory. Here again, the "beauty" criterion has sidestepped the
narrow standard of "experimentalism," the notion that the experiment is
all-important. Professor Yang has lectured about another result that falls
out of the gauge field theory, namely the existence of "magnetic
monopoles." The existence of magnetic monopoles is still in doubt,
however, because no researcher has yet been able to observe them in
nature. Yang's response to these doubts has been to maintain that the
prediction is so satisfyingly beautiful that it is impossible to imagine that
nature would not have magnetic monopoles.
One of the tasks of modern physics is to come up with a TOE, a
"Theory of Everything," that is, a unified theory of the laws of mechan–
ics. The physics world is quite confident that such a unified theory can
eventually be developed, since the history of physics is an unbroken series
of successes in finding greater and greater unified theories. Yet in formu–
lating a TOE, laboratory experiments cannot be directly carried out.
Esthetic considerations have of necessity replaced empirical standards and
principles in judging the value of TOE research. Currently, the most op–
timistic of those in search of a TOE is the group involved with
"superstring theory," a domain that has attracted the most talented
particle physicists and astrophysicists of the new generation. The funda–
mental faith of these physicists is that a theory in accord with the fol–
lowing conditions might possibly be unique and that, based upon these
conditions, one could ascertain the origins of the universe. These condi–
tions are: 1.) the greatest harmony: the theory must be one in which the
universe exhibits the highest and most ideal symmetry; 2.) the greatest
completeness: it must give a complete account of all the mutually inter–
acting forces in the universe; 3.) the greatest possible consistency: it must
be a theory in which the universe exhibits a high degree of internal unity
and regularity, with all the parts acting in accord with one another.
It can almost be said that superstring theory adheres to, in the most
classsic sense, the esthetic principle ofPythagorus:
Harmony
+
Completeness
+
Consistency
=
Truth
