He defines the essence of this crisis and offers the means by which it may be overcome using new methods for predicting and analyzing the experimental data of optical and nuclear spectroscopy. The popular form of presentation of scientific concepts used in this book makes the author's work understandable to a wide range of readers interested in the scientific analysis of the structure of the microcosm. The achievements of science and technology are obvious. They are assumed to be the results of the evolution of fundamental scientific knowledge believed indubitable by most people. However, recent experimental results have cast doubts on important aspects of theoretical physics previously deemed unshakable.
Theoretical physics is looked upon as man's crowning intellectual achievement.
To question its validity may seem absurd to the most, but we'll show that physics is in virtually the same situation today as that of Alchemy at the end of the eighteenth century. To do so, we will have to discuss very complex natural phenomena which can be fully understood only through mathematics. Recognizing that the average reader finds mathematical equations daunting, we will try to ease that difficulty by treating equations as trees in a landscape, and show how their trunks, branches, twigs, and leaves are represented by mathematical symbols. We will attract your attention to these exotic trees and their structures, and briefly explain their physical meanings. Those travellers through our landscape less interested in the individual trees may still enjoy the scenery.