In a 1963 essay recalling his role in discovering the strange-but-true laws of quantum theory, Paul Dirac wrote “it is more important to have beauty in one’s equations than to have them fit experiment”. That might sound odd. Experiment, after all, is the ultimate arbiter of an equation’s ability to explain natural phenomena. But for a theoretical physicist like Dirac, experiments could be misled: only beauty was incorruptible. An almost religious devotion to beauty remains commonplace among theorists of fundamental physics, even if the standards of attractiveness have changed over time. But what if the universe is not a beautiful place? [
1] A seemingly valid question. But essentially pointless. Beauty is not something external. Beauty is always on the inside, created and sustained not by anyone else but our self. The simplest the theory the more beautiful. The less stones you through into the water, the calmer its surface will be. And then and only then, will you be able to see the cause of everything in it. Reflected on the quiet surface, you see yourself. The ocean is rough now. Waves rippling through its surface. But deep inside the abyss, the sea is still beautiful. As in that very first day when you started throwing rocks in it…
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