A beautiful question : finding natures deep design The question Pythagoras I : thought and object Pythagoras II : number and harmony Plato I : structure from symmetry : Platonic solids Plato II : escaping the cave Newton I : method and madness Newton II : color Newton III : dynamic beauty Maxwell I : Gods esthetics Maxwell II : the doors of perception Prelude to symmetry Quantum beauty I : music of the spheres Symmetry I : Einsteins two step Quantum beauty II : exuberance Symmetry II : local color Quantum beauty III : beauty at the core of nature Symmetry III : Emmy Noether : time energy and sanity Quantum beauty IV : in beauty we trust A beautiful answer Does the universe embody beautiful ideas Artists as well as scientists throughout human history have pondered this beautiful question. With Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek as your guide embark on a voyage of related discoveries from Plato and Pythagoras up to the present. Wilczeks groundbreaking work in quantum physics was inspired by his intuition to look for a deeper order of beauty in nature. In fact every major advance in his career came from this intuition: to assume that the universe embodies beautiful forms forms whose hallmarks are symmetry harmony balance proportion and economy. There are other meanings of beauty but this is the deep logic of the universe and it is no accident that it is also at the heart of what we find aesthetically pleasing and inspiring. As he reveals here this has been the heart of scientific pursuit from Pythagoras the ancient Greek who was the first to argue that all things are number to Galileo Newton Maxwell Einstein and into the deep waters of twentieth century physics. Gorgeously illustrated A Beautiful Question is a mind shifting book that braids the age old quest for beauty and the age old quest for truth into a thrilling synthesis. Yes: the world is a work of art and its deepest truths are ones we already feel as if they were somehow written in our souls. From publisher description