But, in fact, aesthetics has become a driving force in contemporary physics. It is this sense of wonder that I wish to share with you. Philosophers pondering the meaning of aesthetics have produced weighty tomes, but an absolute definition of aesthetic values remains elusive. For one thing, fashion changes. The well-endowed ladies of Rubens no longer grace magazine covers.
Aesthetic perceptions differ from culture to culture.
Different conventions govern landscape painting in the East and West. The architectural designs of Bramante and I. M. Pei are beautiful in different ways. In this book, I wish to explain how the aesthetic imperatives of contemporary physics make up a system of aesthetics that can be rigorously formulated. To the architectural cognoscenti, the same principles that guide the Renaissance architect guide the postmodern. Likewise, physicists have to train their inner eye to see the universal principles guiding Nature's design.