Gestalting Structures in Physics Tuomo Suntola Basic questions for human conception The scope of physical theories From antique metaphysics to empirical sciences The picture of reality, the empiricists puzzle Concluding remarks
Gestalting Structures in Physics Basic questions for human conception: What? Where? When? The SI base quantities: mass, length, time (units: kilogram, meter, second) In search for a deeper understanding we may ask: Why does anything exist? Where is the universe coming from? How does nature function? What determines the structures in material world?
Gestalting Structures in Physics Aristotle (384 322 BC): ALL men by nature desire to know. and the most exact of the sciences are those which deal most with first principles; for those which involve fewer principles are more exact than those which involve additional principles The second statement is generally known as Occams s razor: A principle urging one to select from among competing hypotheses that which makes the fewest assumptions. William of Ockham ( c. 1288 1348)
Outlining of the historical development in Physics Search for the laws of nature and understanding of space, matter, and motion 150 100 50 0-1000 -500 BC 0 AD 500 1000 1500 2000
Outlining of the historical development in Physics Search for the laws of nature and understanding of space, matter, and motion Aristotle Leucippus Heraclitus Anaximander Thales 150 100 50 Ptolemy Einstein Planck Maxwell Faraday Laplace Newton Kepler Galilei Copernicus Bohr Leibniz 0-1000 -500 BC 0 AD 500 1000 1500 2000 Poincaré Helmholtz Hamilton Dalton
Antique inheritance Search for the laws of nature and understanding of space, matter, and motion Pythagoras 582 496 numbers, geometry, harmonics Anaximenes 585 528 air primary substance Anaximander 610 546 Apeiron Heraclitus 535 475 Logos Anaxagoras 500 428 Nous Empedocles 492 432 elements Erastothenes 276 194 geography, earth dimensions Heraclides 390 310, Ekfantos, Hiketas rotating earth Philolaus Eudoxus 470 385 410 350 central planet model fire Plato 423 348 Aristotle 384 322 metaphysics, physics Aristarchus 310 230 heliocentric universe Euclid 350 280 conics, optics Erastothenes 276 194 earth dimensions Apollonius 262 190 ellipse, epicycles Archimedes 287 212 machines, primary integral calculus Seleucus 190 150 studies on Aristarchus model Hipparchus 190 120 scientific astronomy mathematics physics holism, complementarity, process philosophy heliocentric astronomy Copernicus, Kepler, Newton Earth-centered astronomy Galilei, Descartes, Leibniz, Newton Ptolemy 90 168 epicycle model Principles Space Motion Mathematics Thales 625 546 arche, first cause, water, primary substance Leucippus (400s), Democritus 460 370 atomic theory Epicurus 341 270 empiricism atomic theories materialism, reductionism 600 500 400 300 200 100 BC 0 AD 100 200 Matter
Gestalting skies and space Sun N Moon Earth Daytime before noon in the summer S Anaximander s Earth centered universe.
Gestalting skies and space N Moon Sun Earth S Daytime before noon in the winter Anaximander s Earth centered universe.
Gestalting skies and space N Moon Sun S Nighttime in the winter Anaximander s Earth centered universe.
Gestalting skies and space N Moon Sun Nighttime in the summer S Anaximander s Earth centered universe.
Gestalting skies and space 500 s BC Ptolemy s epicyclic system (100 s AD) N Moon Sun Nighttime in the summer S Planetary orbits in the Earth centered system Anaximander s universe was constructed of a flat Earth surrounded by the sphere of fixed stars. The wheels for the Moon and the Sun were behind the sphere of stars.
The Copernican Newtonian revolution The dawn of mathematical physics Aristotelian mechanics Ptolemy heavens, antique ideas of motion and the heliocentric alternative 1473 1543 Nicholaus Copernicus 1546 1601 Tycho Brahe 1564 1642 Galileo Galilei 1571 1630 Johannes Kepler 1601 1665 Pierre de Fermat 1596 1650 René Descartes 1623 1662 1500 1600 1700 Blaise Pascal 1629 1695 Christiaan Huygens 1646 1716 Gottfried Leibniz 1616 1703 John Wallis 1642 1727 Isaac Newton 1656 1742 Edmond Halley 1632 1723 Christopher Wren Conservation of energy Calculus Newtonian mechanics 1546 1595 Thomas Diggens 1635 1703 Robert Hooke 1561 1626 Francis Bacon 1627 1691 Robert Boyle Empiricism
Gestalting of celestial mechanics Copernicus: OUTLINING Heliocentric system Kepler: MATHEMETICAL DESCRIPTION Elliptic orbits Newton: MODELING The equations of motion OBSERVATIONS PRIMARY PRINCIPLES OF NATURE OBSERVATIONS PRIMARY PRINCIPLES OF NATURE QUANTITIES IN MECHANICS TESTING Known and new Simplicity, symmetry, spherical forms Tycho Brahe s precise observations Simplicity, mathematical beauty Force, inertia, momentum Observations versus predictions
Gestalting skies and space Earth Sun The first Chapter of Kopernicus De Revolutionibus, is titled The Universe is Spherical : First of all, we must note that the universe is spherical. The reason is either that, of all forms, the sphere is the most perfect,... or that wholes strive to be circumscribed by this boundary... Thomas Digges s (1546 1595) view of the Copernican system. Fixed stars are spread to unlimited space.
Gestalting space 150 100 Einstein Planck Maxwell FLRW cosmology 1916-1940 Einstein: General relativity Aristarchus: The Greek Copernicus Philolaus, Central fire Thales Anaximander s skies around the flat Earth 50 Ptolemy 0-1000 -500 BC 0 AD 500 1000 1500 2000 Aristotle: Eudoxus s system Eudoxus, planetary spheres around spherical Earth. Copernicus: Heliocentric system Laplace: Refinement of celestial mechanics Newton: Mathematical solution for Kepler s orbits Kepler: Elliptic orbits, Kepler s laws Galilei: Force and acceleration, observations with telescope Brahe: Precise measurement of planetary orbits
Path to special relativity Woldemar Voigt 1850 1919 Voigt s transformation 1887 Joseph Larmor 1857 1942 coordinate transformations 1897 Jules Henri Poincaré 1854 1912 James Maxwell 1831 1879 Maxwell s equations 1864 positivism Heinrich Hertz 1857 1894 demonstration of electromagnetic waves 1877 George Stoney 1826 1911 unit charge, electron Albert Michelson 1852 1931 M M experiment 1889 George FitzGerald 1853 1928 length contraction Ernst Mach 1838 1916 Relative distance and time Joseph Thomson 1856 1940 electron, electromagnetic mass Hendrik Lorentz 1858 1947 Walter Kaufmann 1871 1947 increase of mass in motion Albert Einstein 1879 1955 Hermann Minkowski 1864 1909 Special theory of relativity Spacetime interpretation 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910
Path to FLRWcosmology from general relativity Ernst Mach, Mach s principle Herman Minkowski spacetime 1908 Albert Einstein General relativity 1916 Alexander Friedman Friedmann s model 1919 Einstein s 4-sphere 1917 Georges Lemaître expanding space 1925 Edwin Hubble galaxy observations, redshift 1922-1929 Hubble law 1929 Albert Einstein Special relativity 1905 Karl Schwarzschild Solution of field equations 1916 Willem de Sitter GR metrics 1915 1934 Richard Tolman magnitude versus redshift 1930 Max Planck Planck s equation 1900 Howard Robertson, Arthur Walker: Refining of the Friedmann s model tarkennus Immanuel Kant 1724 1804 Solar system and Milky Way condensations of nebulae Henry Cavendish 1731 1810 Determination of the gravitational constant FLRW-cosmology 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940
Gestalting skies and space
Gestalting modern cosmology is challenging Space: FLRW cosmology (Friedman, Lemaître, Robertson, Walker) Ω 0 >1 Ω 0 <1 Ω 0 =1 Outlining of spacetime geometry in FLRW cosmology. The antiquity question of infinite/finite space is unanswered by the FLRW cosmology.
Gestalting matter Quantum mechanics: Material structures described in terms of wave functions Leucippus, Democritus: Both matter and void have real existence. The constituents of matter are elements infinite in number and always in motion, with an infinite variety of shapes, completely solid in composition Heraclitus, Everything is a part of the same whole or everything has its share of wholeness. Thales Ptolemy Einstein Planck Maxwell Faraday Laplace Newton Kepler Galilei Copernicus 0-1000 -500 BC 0 AD 500 1000 1500 2000 Anaximander: Apeiron is an abstract endless, unlimited principle and primary substance for all material expressions. 50 Aristotle opposed atomism and infinite apeiron; supported Empedocles s system. Empedocles, the system of four elements. AIR wet Bohr s atomic model (1913) Boltzmann: Statistical mechanics, kinetic theory of gases: strong support to atomic theory Dalton: Atomic and molecular hypothesis concluded from the ratios of elements in chemical reactions (1808) Leibniz described the elementary parts of matter as monads perpetual living mirrors of the universe FIRE hot dry WATER EARTH cold
Gestalting of motion Leucippus Heraclitus Thales 150 Galilei: - acceleration in free fall is independent of the weight of the falling object - no external movent - rectilinear motion ~ the state of rest - the principle of relativity Ptolemy Copernicus Einstein Planck Maxwell Laplace Newton 0-1000 -500 BC 0 AD 500 1000 1500 2000 Aristotle: - natural motion (free fall): the velocity is proportional to the weight of the object and inversely proportional to the resistance of the medium, - forced motion (horizontal motion) requires an external movent 50 Einstein s special relativity (1905): Newton s laws modified by redefinition of time and distance. Poincaré: Everything can be seen as interplay of kinetic energy potential energy Lagrange, Hamilton : equations of motion in generalized coordinates Laplace: refinement of celestial mechanics, potential theory Newton: The 2. law of motion F= m a, the 3. law of motion, balance of opposite forces equivalence principle Leibniz: - Living force (kinetic energy), vis viva is obtained against release of dead force (potential energy) (vis mortua) - the amount of all living force in space is equal to the dead force released
Gestalting of motion Leucippus Heraclitus Thales 150 Galilei: - acceleration in free fall is independent of the weight of the falling object - no external movent - rectilinear motion ~ the state of rest - the principle of relativity 50 Ptolemy Copernicus Einstein Planck Maxwell Laplace Newton 0-1000 -500 BC 0 AD 500 1000 1500 2000 John Philoponus: Motion is maintained by the energy, impetus, given to the object by the mover Jean Buridan: Impetus and the concept of momentum Leibniz: - Living force (kinetic energy), vis viva is obtained against release of dead force (potential energy) (vis mortua) - the amount of all living force in space is equal to the dead force released
Outlining of the historical development in Physics Search for the laws of nature and understanding of space, matter, and motion 150 Empiricism Aristotle Leucippus Heraclitus Anaximander Thales 100 50 Ptolemy Philoponus Einstein Planck Maxwell Faraday Laplace Newton Kepler Galilei Copernicus Buridan Bohr Leibniz 0-1000 -500 BC 0 AD 500 1000 1500 2000 Poincaré Helmholtz Hamilton Dalton Metaphysical principles
The empiricists puzzle Quantum mechanics - Planck s equation - wave function - Schrödinger equation - uncertainty principle - wave particle duality - Dirac s equations Classical mechanics - Newton s laws of motion - Newton s gravitation - absolute time - force a base quantity - mass a measure of inertia - Galilei relativity FLRW cosmology - General relativity: gravitation by spacetime metric - Cosmological principle - Reciprocity principle - Planck s equation - Hubble flow - Dark matter, dark energy - Inflation hypothesis - Gravitation waves Electromagnetism Maxwell s equations - Electromagnetic interactions - Electromagnetic waves - conservation of charge Special relativity General relativity - equivalence principle - curved spacetime - relativity principle - proper time, proper distance - constant velocity of light - mass manifestation of energy - relativistic mass
How to apply Occam s razor? The empiricists puzzle Essence of the wave function? Gestalting curved spacetime? Quantum mechanics - Planck s equation - wave function - Schrödinger equation - uncertainty principle - wave particle duality - Dirac s equations Classical mechanics - Newton s laws of motion - Newton s gravitation - absolute time - force a base quantity - mass a measure of inertia - Galilei relativity FLRW cosmology - General relativity: gravitation by spacetime metric - Cosmological principle - Reciprocity principle - Planck s equation - Hubble flow - Dark matter, dark energy - Inflation hypothesis - Gravitation waves Electromagnetism Maxwell s equations - Electromagnetic interactions - Electromagnetic waves - conservation of charge Special relativity General relativity - equivalence principle - curved spacetime - relativity principle - proper time, proper distance - constant velocity of light - mass manifestation of energy - relativistic mass Gestalting relative time and distance?
Books available at cafeteria (Tiedekahvila) Tieteen lyhyt historia - vai pitkä tie luonnonfilosofian ja empirismin kohtaamiseen 2012 The Short History of Science - or the long path to the union of metaphysics and empiricism 2012 www.physicsfoundations.org The Dynamic Universe Toward a unified picture of physical reality 2011