SCIENCE – Page 6 – REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE

UNENDING PURSUIT

Science is an unending pursuit of knowledge that is refined and advanced by new techniques of examination.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“Gene Machine“

Author: Venki Ramakrishnan

Narrated By: Matthew Waterson

Venki Ramakrishnan (Author, British-American structural biologist, shared 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas A Steitz and Ada Yonath.)

“Gene Machine” tells reader/listeners of the discovery of the structure of ribosomes. Ribosomes are elemental cellular organisms (organelles) made up of proteins within living cells. They are genetic factories that process protein within the body. Without ribosomes, life as we know it, would not exist. Ribosomes repair cellular damage, maintain cell structure, and direct chemical processes within the body.

In the 20th century, after years of research, Ada Yonath, Venki Ramakrishnan, and Thomas Steitz discover clues to the structure of Ribosomes. Ramakrishnan story is about the complex process of scientific discovery. He reveals how scientists are motivated by the same desires of all humanity; namely money, power, and/or prestige. This is “the way” of the world, whether its religion, science, or society.

To the lay reader/listener, Ramakrishnan’s story is most interesting because it illustrates science research is more than a quest for knowledge. Curiosity and thrill of discovery are important, but it is the reward of being first and the accompanying money, power, and prestige that are scientists’ greatest reward.

Ramakrishnan somewhat ambivalently acknowledges Ada Yonath is the first scientist to recognize the critical role of ribosomes in genetic engineering. Ms. Yonath pioneers the use of crystallization in studying the elusive ribosome existence. However, Yonath fails to reveal a clear picture of the ribosome because of repeating the same chemical means of freezing the image of the elusive organelle. Ramakrishnan and his team of graduate students manage to come up with a chemistry formula that clears the image enough to make the structure of ribosomes more accurate.

Thomas Steitz helped perfect x-ray crystallography to more clearly map the structure of ribosomes.

Steitz’ work justified his inclusion in the Nobel award. The significance of Ramakrishnan’s story to a non-scientist is his unabashed and self-effacing humility when explaining his role in discovering the structure and purpose of ribosomes.

One wonders if Ramakrishnan harbors an opinion that Yonath’s pioneering of ribosome research is overblown.

Ramakrishnan criticizes Ada Yonath for being too verbose when participating in public conferences by recalling a conference that limited presenters to 15 minutes. Ramakrishnan explains Yonath went on for over 30 minutes despite the audiences expressed discontent. In the end, he acknowledges Yonath’s role in being among the first to suggest ribosome research was important. She was the first to use crystallography to identify its structure. Ramakrishnan notes those two facts justify her Nobel’ selection.

Ramakrishnan suggests winning a Nobel opens doors to opportunities that are unjustified in ways that have little to do with the specific work or a particular discovery.

Ramakrishnan explains much of the public think a winner of a Nobel could talk about any scientific subject with expertise. He notes the Nobel Prize is a great honor but is proffered to scientists that have achieved a finite discovery in a specific discipline, not a general understanding of all science. He goes on to explain how his country of birth (India), the country of England, and one suspects America, wish to claim him as representative of their countries–when, in fact, he is an individual who achieved success by dint of hard work, the help of others, and personal discipline. Ramakrishnan’s story explains how he pursued understanding of crystallography because it could help him achieve a goal. His point seems that the hard work of many scientists, not nationality or Nobel recognition, are keys to successful science research.

Ramakrishnan story is about science as an unending pursuit of knowledge that is refined and advanced by new techniques of examination.

In today’s science research, chemistry of crystallography is made less valuable with the invention of the atom-level microscope that offers direct, firsthand observations of the structure of human organelles like the ribosome. Ramakrishnan suggests science is an eternal search for knowledge.

RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCE

Is belief in God worth it? Cook’s history of Muslimism and knowledge of Christianity makes one wonder.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“A History of the Muslim World From its origins to the Dawn of Modernity”

By: Michael Cook

Narrated By: Ric Jerrom

Michael A. Cook (British historian, scholar of Islamic History)

Professor Cook overwhelms one with a voluminous examination of the Muslim World. His history really begins before the birth of the Arab prophet, Muhammad (570-632). However, it is after Muhammed’s revelations and his departure from Mecca in 610 CE, when he and his followers settle in Medina (622) that a more documented history is revealed. Arabs are identified as a nomadic tribe who occupied the Arabian Peninsula, Syrian Desert, North, and Lower Mesopotamia in the mid-9th century BCE. However, notable territorial regions first appeared in the 14th century BCE with the Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian Empires. Cook suggests it is in the 7th century CE that Islam became a force in the Middle East. After the Prophet Muhammad’s death in 1632, the Rashidun Caliphate established itself (632-661 CE).

The Rashidun Caliphate boundaries.

The messenger of Allah is Muhammed. Muhammed was an Arab. Born in 540 CE in Mecca, Arabia (now Saudi Arabia), Muhammed is considered by Muslim’s the last messenger of Allah. Though Muhammed could neither read nor write, his counsel with scribes resulted in the equivalent of the Christian Bible, called the Quran, which is alleged to reflect the word of the Supreme creator of life, the world, and the hereafter. This is different than the scribes of the Christian Holy Bible. However, the Holy Bible’ and Quran’ texts offer the same confusion about their meaning because these holy books have first, second, third, and later-hand writings of scribes.

(REVIEWER’S NOTE: Scribes recreated fragmentary writings and legends of long-dead contemporaries of Christ in the case of the Holy Bible, just as the thoughts of the “last messenger of Allah” were recorded by scribes. Modern science experiments explain human minds do not precisely record or recall the past. The human mind recreates the past and fills any gaps that may arise to complete the mind’s imprecise memory. That is why scribes of biblical or unbiblical history are interpretations of facts of the past, and not necessarily accurate facts of the past.)

With the conclusion of the First World War, the Ottoman Empire was dissolved, and modern Arab nation-states were formed.

With the Ottoman Empire’s dissolution, Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Montenegro, and Macedonia were formed. Three Arab nation-states came out of the Ottoman Empire’ dissolution. They were Syria, Iraq, and Transjordan (now Jordan).

Interestingly, modern states with the highest number of Arab speaking residents are Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. Only Egypt and Sudan have more than 10% of their population who use Arabic as their primary language. The point of this realization is that Professor Cook is writing a history of the Muslim religion, not Arab culture.

However, there seems little doubt that the 6 major Arab tribes of earlier centuries were the vessels of change for Muslim’ belief and practice. Arab tribes existed as far back as 6000 BCE. By 1200 BCE, they had established settlements and camps that formed into Kingdoms.

Arab tribal land extended from the Levant to Mesopotamia and Arabia.

Cook infers Arabs spread the Muslim religion to northern Africa and throughout the Asian continent while crossing the Mediterranean to influence, but not convert, southern Spain. Cook illustrates how Muslim’ belief shaped human history and culture. An estimated 55% of the world population identifies itself as Christian, or Muslim. Hinduism constitutes 15%, Buddhism 7%, with the remaining religions in lower single digits.

**What Cook shows is how Muslim belief (24% of the world population) impacted the world.**

Cook begins to explain the split between Sunni and Shia religious belief. In the modern world, only Iran, Bahrain, Yemen, and Iraq have Shia-majority populations with a significant Shia community in Lebanon and Afghanistan. Sunni religious belief is practiced by a majority population in nearly 20 countries with a mixture in Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Eritrea, Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan.

A surprising observation by Cook is the impact of a language change in the Middle East. Persian (aka Farsi) became a bridge connecting the diverse communities and histories of the Middle East. This change largely took place between the 9th and 11th centuries. It significantly impacted Muslim cultural beliefs and Iranian culture in general.

Cook implies the colloquialization of translations by Farsi (the language of Persia) of Arab Caliphate’ triumphs and failures molded beliefs of Middle Eastern nation-states. Countries like Iran either adopted or rejected Farsi’ stories of accomplishments and failures by Arab Caliphates. Some failure is associated with moral turpitude, a falling away from Qur’anic teaching, translated into Farsi language.

Cook’s next step in the history of Islam is to reveal the impact of Turkey and the Mongol empire’s spread of the Muslim religion. There is a confluence of tribal association and acceptance of the Islamic religion in the military campaigns of Genghis Kahn (1162-1227) followers, some of which were Turkish.

(Genghis Khan’s sons establish four kingdoms in the Middle East that lasted until 1368.)

Though none of the kingdoms practiced a particular religion, each influenced the course of religious acceptance. The environment they created allowed Christian religion to spread from Russian territory, while Turkish influence leaned toward Islam. Cook explains how young rebel leaders gained followers by successfully defeating and pillaging villages that had poor defenses. With each successful raid, more young people would join the raiders. This incremental growth led to the spread of Christian and Islamic religious influence, depending on the religious leaning of raiding parties.

Cook clearly illustrates how Arab culture lies at the heart of Islamic religion despite its nomadic existence. From the first madrasas (Islamic schools) in the Abbasid Caliphate in the 9th century, the teachings of the last messenger of Allah began with Arabs. Cook explains the religion is unlikely to have flourished without other cultures adoption. Without Persian, Turk, Uzbek, and Mongol societies adoption, the spread of Islam would have been minimized. Muslim belief evolved in a cauldron of conflict with Christianity, Judaism, and other indigenous religions but prevailed as a religion with two faces, i.e., the Suni and Shia Divide.

Like the schism between Catholics and Protestants, Sunni and Shia believe in one God but differ in ways that have roiled the world. In the case of Catholics and Protestants, there is the French wars of 1562-1598, the European thirty years war of 1618-1648, and the Troubles in Ireland in 1968-1998. In the case of Sunni and Shia, there was the battle of Karbala in 680 CE, the Safavid-Ottoman wars in the 16th-17th centuries, the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-1990, the Iraq War of 2003-2011, and the Syrian Civil War that began in 2011 and continues through today.

The forgoing were only human deaths within the two major religions of the world, while neglecting the atrocities incurred between Christianity and Islam. There were the Crusades between the 11th and 13th centuries, the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, The Siege of Vienna in 1683, and the Lebanese Civil War between 1975-1990.

Later chapters of Cook’s history reveal the conflicts between the Islamic religion and other major religions in the Middle East, besides Christianity. Many leaders are identified for historians who will be interested in knowing more, but the names become a blur to a dilatant of history.

Is belief in God worth it? Cook’s history of Muslimism and knowledge of Christianity makes one wonder.

ENTROPY, TIME, & LIFE

As one gets older, the principle of entropy takes on a personal meaning. Getting older may make one wiser but not smarter.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

The Great Courses: “Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time”

By: Sean Carroll

Lectures by: Sean Carroll

Sean Michael Carroll (American theoretical physicist and philosopher specializing in quantum mechanics, cosmology, and philosophy of science.)

Sean Carroll presents scientists’ views of time, entropy, and life. There are instances of his lectures that are too obscure for this reviewer, but for physicists the lectures are undoubtedly clearer and more concise than for this seeker of understanding.

Infinity time with vintage clock. Digital generated

Carroll explains there are four physical dimensions in the world. There is length, width, depth, and a fourth dimension called time. The first three are easy to understand because they are physical characteristics while time is not. Time cannot be seen, touched, or tasted.

Time is a fourth dimension measured by calendars and clocks that divide the past and present into days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Carroll notes knowledge of length, width, and depth are of the past and present while time points to an unknown future as well as the present and past. Einstein refined the definition of time by renaming it space time which combines physical dimensions with observers’ perception of events, i.e., where and when observations occur and where the observer is located. The significance of Einstein’s space time is that the location and traveling speed of the observer affects the perceived time of events. Carroll’s attention is about time as an arrow that only points forward. Carroll explains how events of the present and past can be defined while the future is unknown. An extended meaning of the arrow of time is that it seems unlikely (though not impossible according to Carroll and the current state of physics) that we can physically return to a past.

There is a significant distinction between entropy and loss of energy. Energy is always conserved but it may not be useable for work. Entropy is about increased disorder and randomness of energy states. Carroll defines entropy as a characteristic of matter in the world which is in a state of molecular disorder, randomness, and uncertainty. This definition is reinforced by the discovery of quantum mechanics which experimentally illustrates probabilities rather than certainty at atom-level interactions. (Einstein never accepted quantum mechanics as a truth of life but only a step of discovery in physics. Einstein believed there would be a discovery that incorporates quantum mechanics in an ultimately predictive physics world.) Carroll notes a theory that explains gravity along with the proof of quantum mechanics holds a key to whether Einstein is wrong when he suggested God does not play with dice.

An interesting note by Carroll is that transition from low to high entropy has an interesting effect in an experiment with two separate enclosures that are connected. One has gas molecules in it while the other does not. There is a hole between the enclosures through which molecules can enter. Over time the two boxes will have the same amount of gas through a process of equilibration. This reinforces the idea of conservation of energy while demonstrating energy transformation.

Transformation of energy is exhibited in animal life by its eventual death, but Caroll explains it equally applies to all matter in the universe. The idea of entropy is reinforced by the arrow of time that only points in one direction.

At an atomic level, all matter transforms over time.

Entropy does not mean loss of energy. Energy is always conserved but it may not have a useful work purpose. The second law of thermodynamics, postulated by Rudolf Clausius in the 1850s, explains that heat always flows from hotter to colder through the process of entropy. For example, a low-level heat energy may not serve a work purpose, but it still conserves energy balance. Raising the heat on a cube of ice transforms its molecules from a frozen state to water to steam which conserves energy that can generate working steam molecules to power an engine.

Much of Caroll’s lectures are an examination of Ludwig Boltzmann’s theory of statistical mechanics and kinetic theory. Much of Boltzmann’s contribution revolves around the concept of entropy and a detailed understanding of the behavior of particles in gases, liquids, and solids. He performed experiments that proved the conservation of energy and the equilibration of atoms and molecules as an observable phenomenon.

Boltzmann speculated that in the beginning of the universe, the chaotic activity of its beginning transformed into a lower state of entropy to create what we see in the world.

Ludwig Edward Boltzmann (1844-1906, Austrian physicist and philosopher.)

Boltzmann’s idea came before the theory of the Big Bang. The idea of the Big Bang actually presumes less entropy rather than more before the creation of the universe. Boltzmann’s idea is that the universe began in chaos (high entropy) to form what became known as a Boltzmann brain (low entropy), a thought experiment where a highly advanced brain formed in a void, from which the universe evolved. The Boltzmann brain is like the singularity of the Big Bang where cosmic dust condensed into a low entropy state and then exploded into our universe.

The origin of the universe may, in one sense, come from either a Boltzmann brain or a Big Bang. Both suggest the universe began in a low entropy state.

However, the Big Bang seems more reliably built on evidence by the measurement of an expanding universe with proven remnants (cosmic radiation) from a massive explosive event. Either theory implies the potential for a multiverse that began from a low entropy theory of our universe’s origin.

At this point in Carroll’s lectures, one’s head begins to hurt. He addresses the many ramifications of the origin of life. As one gets older, the principle of entropy takes on a personal meaning. Getting older may make one wiser but not smarter.

PRECISION

The human factor is at the heart of perfection with precision as the qualifying characteristic of craftsmanship or technology.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“The Perfectionists” How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World

By: Simon Winchester

Narrated by: Simon Winchester

Simon Winchester (British-American author, journalist, historian.)

Simon Winchester has a remarkable ability to simplify, detail, and vivify history’s complexity. Winchester is not new to this listener. His erudition, writing, and narration are a pleasure to read or hear. His story of the origin of the first Oxford English Dictionary, is a fascinating recollection of Dr. William Minor who shot and killed a stranger on a London street. Dr. Minor was imprisoned in an asylum for his aberrant behavior but became an important source of information for James Murray, the leading lexicographer of the “Oxford English Dictionary”.

“The Perfectionists” is about the advance of the world economy from the perspective of entrepreneurs driven to succeed. Their success, in Winchester’s opinion, is based on understanding and capitalizing on the value of precision.

James Watt (1736-1773) perfected Thomas Newcomen’s 1712 steam engine

Though one may go back to the first century to find the first steam engine, it is the invention of James Watt, and the improvements of Matthew Boulton, and Sir Charles Algernon Parsons in the 18th and later 19th centuries that perfected steam engine utility and power. Watt created the steam engine, Boulton helped Watt perfect the steam engine for industrial use, and Parsons expanded its utility by creating steam turbines to power the propellers of steamboats. Each played a role in making steam engines more efficient with precise design and milling refinements that provided more power and wider utility.

Luddites protested against the industrial revolution because machines were replacing jobs formerly done by laborers. Just as the Luddites fomented arguments against mechanization, Nicholas Carr argues automation created unemployment and diminished craftsmanship.

With the advent of the industrial revolution, Winchester explains how speed and quality of production were geometrically improved by focusing on precision. He offers several industry examples, including weapon manufacture, automobile production, camera refinement, telescope resolution, airplane manufacture, watch making, and CPU design which now leads to the A.I. revolution.

**Winchester notes the beginning of the industrial revolution starts with the perfection of energy production machines that power the manufacture of standardized parts for finished products.**

Winchester tells the story of the French that insisted on standardizing parts for gun manufacture to increase the speed with which repairs could be made for damaged weapons. Winchester recounts the war of 1812 when Great Britain bloodied the nose of America by routing the capitol’s volunteer defense because of a lack of useable guns. He tells the story of an American rifleman with a broken trigger on his rifle who chooses to run from a British onslaught because trigger replacement would take two weeks for customization to fit his gun.

American guns were custom made which meant that when one was damaged it would take weeks for repair.

Honoré LeBlanc, a French gunsmith during the reigns of Louis XV and XVI, created the idea of interchangeable gun parts in the 18th century. Though it came to the attention of Thomas Jefferson, it did not catch hold in America until after the war of 1812. There was an effort by America to standardize parts in the early 1800s but Eli Whitney (the inventor of the cotton gin), hoodwinked the American government into a contract for standard gun parts that never materialized.

**Winchester explains Eli Whitney flimflammed the American government to get a contract for standardized gun parts but never produced the product for which the government contracted.**

Winchester notes Whitney knew nothing about guns and hired a crew of customizing gunsmiths who manufactured unique weapons that could not be repaired with standardized parts. Because the parts were manufactured by individual craftsman, the guns produced were not interchangeable. They did not have precisely manufactured parts that would allow interchangeability. Whitney gave a demonstration to the government with only one gun that he assembled in front of Jefferson and a government committee. He did not demonstrate any repair with standard parts. Jefferson fell for the false presentation and initially lauded Whitney. This demonstration was in 1801 which explains why a soldier might have fled because of a broken trigger in the War of 1812.

Henry Royce (1863-1933)

Winchester explains standardizing and precision making of gun parts were an essential step in the industrialization of America. Standardization and precision-made interchangeable parts became the touchstone of success in the automobile industry in the 20th century. Winchester tells the story of Rolls Royce and Ford Motor companies to make his point. Both Royce and Ford recognized the importance of precisely made standard automobile parts to garner their success in the automobile business. Though their route to success is precise manufacture of automobile parts, the wealth they created for themselves was quite different.

Henry Ford (1863-1947)

Ford became one of the richest people in the world while Royce became wealthy but not among the richest in the world. Royce chose to pursue perfection of every part of the automobile which limited his unit production and increased manufacturing cost. Though Ford perfected standardized mechanical parts, they were precisely designed only for functionality. Ford added the dimension of standardized labor to the manufacturing process. By creating an assembly line of laborers with precise replaceable mechanical parts, Ford could produce more automobiles than Royce in a shorter period of time.

The point Winchester makes is perfection of standardization (production of precisely tooled engine parts) is a cornerstone of successful industrialization. Royce expanded the concept to every part of an automobile while Ford focused on replaceable mechanical parts of the automobile.

Winchester tells a story of ball bearing manufacturing during Henry Ford’s reign when some automobiles were failing. The bearing manufacturer proved it was not their bearings with tests that showed the bearings were perfectly within precise measurement requirements. What Ford realizes is that the ball bearings were milled exactly the same and met the precise dimensions required. The problem was found to be the assembly line and human assembly mistakes. One thinks of the loss of precision in Boeing aircraft today and wonders what that means for Boeing’s future if it is not immediately corrected.

Winchester contextualizes the story of the ball bearings in recalling the history of a near catastrophic plane crash when a Rolls-Royce jet engine fails on a Qantas Airlines Airbus A380 in 2010.

Jet engines are precisely manufactured marvels of aviation. However, a tiny flaw in one oil pipe within the engine nearly caused the loss of over 400 passengers. Winchester explains Jet engines are dependent on superheated gas exchange that, if not properly cooled, will damage the engine. Every engine has a series of drilled holes that allow ambient air to cool the engine during flight. The holes are drilled in precise locations throughout the engine louvers and oil pipes to keep the engine from overheating. One of the oil pipes holes is in the wrong location which caused the engine to overheat after many flights. The failure of human oversight of the automated process and final checks by the manufacturer are the underlying cause of the near catastrophe.

More examples of the importance of precision are wonderfully offered by Winchester in “The Perfectionists”. His examination of the tech industry is as prescient as his analysis of the automotive industry and airline industry. He covers Moore’s law and how technology is advancing at an accelerating pace while inferring humanity may be at a turning point. That turning point is the crossroad between human and machine decisions about the future.

The human factor is at the heart of perfection with precision as the qualifying characteristic of craftsmanship or technology.

Winchester infers craftsmanship does not mean precision is to be sacrificed. He recalls the emphasis on precision in Japanese culture where many craftsmen assembled and repaired Seiko watches to revitalize the brand in the late 20th century. Precision is not a lost art whether work is done by machine or a craftsman, but the human factor remains a critical component of both processes. The point to this listener is that precision is only a part of what has advanced the welfare of society.

ENERGY MATTERS

The boon for composite material is their utility for work and play. Their bane is disposal and their effect on the environment.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“The Nature of Matter: Understanding the Physical World” (The Great Book Lectures)

By: David Ball

Narrated by: Professor David W. Ball

Professor David W. Ball (Professor of Chemistry and Chair of Chemistry Dept. at Cleveland State University, received Masters and Doctoral Degrees from Rice University,

Professor Bell offers a definition and description of matter in the universe. He carries on much of what is explained by Pollock in “Particle Physics”. Bell explains how physics particles form matter with the addition of energy, Bell reifies and expands Pollock’s history of physics. Though there is significant overlap in their presentations, Bell offers a more detailed understanding of matter with its component particles and the role of energy in what humans hear, feel, smell, and see.

Two facts about matter expanded by Bell are about energy’ component’s and structure’s interactions among and within atoms. Though Pollock alluded to the structure of matter and fully explains energy’s importance at the atomic level, Bell expands explanation of electrons and the way they provide energy within and between atoms.

The structure of revolving electrons generate energy in different orbits around the nucleus of an atom. Initially, those orbits were thought to be like planets revolving around the sun but were found to be located within shells around the nucleus in three different orbits. These shells come in three categories. One is spherically symmetric (called the S orbital), the second is dumbbell-like with two lobes along specific axis’s (called P orbitals), and the third (which are also called P orbitals) follow a preferred direction that is not spherical. These shells are important because their reactivity and bonding play a critical role in the formation of matter.

Ball explains electron arrangement around the nucleus of an atom determine chemical properties and behavior of molecular interactions. Electrons are the wave feature of Quantum Mechanics that confound an ordered world of cause and effect postulated by Albert Einstein. What is made a little clearer by Ball is that color is an integral part of energy at the atomic level. Electron energy has discrete and precise energy levels that are arranged around the nucleus of an atom.

Without light particles (protons), energy would not exist. Ball notes electron energy is fundamentally affected by light.

Light or photons are the source of discrete energy levels called quanta that do different things–1) generate absorption, 2) cause transition between shell levels, 3) generate fluorescence, and/or 4) penetrate an atom’s dense nucleus to change mass to energy.

Ball explains why carbon is the most important element in the periodic table. Carbon’s importance is signified by its absence or presence in matter. Matter is either organic or inorganic with carbon being the measure of its classification. The astounding realization is that as a percentage of the earth’s elements, carbon is only 0.032% of our environment. (In contrast, the 3 largest fundamental elements on earth are oxygen at 46.6%, silicon is 27.7%, and Aluminum is 8.1%.) It is a reminder that earth’s living things (organic matter) are dependent on carbon, a miniscule percentage of our environment.

**Without carbon, there would be no life (as we know it) on earth.**

Ball’s chapter on water is an enlightening exploration of its reputation as a universal solvent with various uses and characteristics when boiled or frozen. Water’s dissolving and heat-storing capability are thoughtfully explained. Pollution is touched upon with explanations about what is being done and needs to be improved to preserve the world’s environment.

Ball explores prosthesis and material questions and solutions for the creation of body parts.

From dental fillings to tooth implants, to artificial hips, knees, hearts, arteries and breast implants, Ball explains how biochemistry and materials are critical to their manufacture and utility. He suggests the future will include brain implant enhancements and increases in human longevity.

In “Resistance is Futile”, Ball explains the value of superconductivity.

The current reality of world’ electrification is that 30% of its beneficial power is lost in transmission. Material qualities of our wired world inhibit electrical power conductivity. That 30% loss can be reduced by hugely lowering the temperature of transmission material, with the idea to invent a superconductive material that does not require super-cooled temperatures. Success in finding that material remains a work in progress. No one has found a superconductivity material that does not require super-cooled temperatures. However, Ball notes discovery would be an immense energy saver for the world.

In contrast to “Resistance is Futile” Ball notes “Resistance is Useful”.

Ball explains how resistance creates heat in a semi-conductor that can be translated in a wired circuit to trigger a directed instrumental behavior or action. With the design of circuit boards with semi-conductors (specifically transistors), one could initiate or complete a series of tasks. From automating machines to creating powerful laptop computers, semi-conductor manufacture grew into an immense industry. As the complexity of tasks increased, the size of semi-conductors decreased. Gordon Moore proposed Moore’s law that suggested transistor’ size (a form of semi-conductor) in integrated circuits would become smaller and double every two years. Moore’s Law is not precisely true, but miniaturization, performance, and integration remain semi-conductor manufacturing’ goals.

The last lectures address composites and their component assembly in everything from concrete to fiberglass to tires.

These composites are formed from different materials based on their elemental properties that provide valuable materials to society. They are formed by atomic level interactions between elemental properties. Composite materials are noted as a boon and bane of society. The boon is their utility for new products for work and play. Their bane is disposal and their effect on the environment.

PHYSICS STANDARD MODEL

Was Einstein right when he said, “God does not play dice with the universe.”

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“Particle Physics for Non-Physicists: A Tour of the Microcosmos” (The Great Book Lectures)

By: Steven Pollock

Narrated by: Professor Steven Pollock

Steven J. Pollock (American professor of physics, 2013 U.S. Professor of the Year.)

Professor Pollock attempts to explain particle physics to non-physicists in this lecture series. The explanation details the contributions of many brilliant physicists and scientists that are generally well-known to most who wish to have a better understanding of physics beyond its mathematic proofs. Parenthetically, Pollock’s history shows few contributions to physics by women, a sad reflection on world society that ignores half the world’s intelligence.

Particle physics is about the most elemental ingredients of the universe. Pollock notes the known elemental particles are either bosons or fermions which have been identified through various methods of breaking down the structure of the atom. Examples of bosons are photons, gluons, and bosons. Examples of fermions are electrons, quarks, and neutrinos.

Pollock explains fermions are the elemental particles that make up the matter of what we see. Bosons are the forces of the subatomic world that manipulate fermions. Pollock believes the standard model of physics has largely been determined and that there are unlikely to be any fundamental changes to that model. That conclusion reminds one of Lord Kelvin in 1900 who suggested “There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now.” In contrast, Albert Einstein noted “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.” One wonders if Pollock is leaning toward a Kelvin perception of the standard model of physics by discounting Einstein’s observation about knowledge.

Higgs boson gives mass to what humans see in the world by combining the forces and matter of the sub-atomic world.

Pollock explains the evolution of research in identifying new elemental particles. Pollock notes the Higgs-Boson, the latest particle identified with the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva in 2021, suggests the same tool will lead to further particle discoveries. He explains how the LHC is the latest method for revealing unknown elemental particles by bombarding atoms with proton beams and heavy ions to discover the elemental ingredients of nature. The LHC’s ability to generate a high enough velocity to break the atom into its constituent parts remains a work in progress. Interestingly, Pollock expresses some reservations about the experimental proof of Higgs-Bosun because of the LHC’s unreliable replication of the Higgs-Bosun results. The LHC is shut down for an upgrade that will presumably prove or disprove the Higgs-Bosun discovery.

Will LHC and linear accelerator experiments find more fundamental particles for the standard model of physics? Was Einstein right when he said, “God does not play dice with the universe.” Pollock implies not.

Pollock, like many physicists, believes quantum mechanics are the way the world works at an atomic level and infers the distinction is like the difference between Newtonian and Einsteinian physics. Newton’s world of physics is about earth and its existence while Einstein’s view is of the universe. Both were right within their fields of analysis, but each assumed life exists in a deterministic universe.

It seems Pollock chooses to accept the atomic level of the world operates probabilistically while the macro world operates deterministically because both show experimental proof of difference. Einstein believed the difference would be resolved by further knowledge, i.e., knowledge that explains how there can be a difference between particle physics and Newton/Einstein’ physics that reasons both are ultimately deterministic.

A.I.’S Future

The question is–will humans or A.I. decide whether artificial intelligence is a tool or controller and regulator of society.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“Co-Intelligence”

By: Ethan Mollick

Narrated by: Ethan Mollick

Ethan Mollick (Author, Associate Professor–University of Pennsylvania who teaches innovation and entrepreneurship. Mollick received a PhD and MBA from MIT.)

“Co-Intelligence” is an eye-opening introduction to an understanding of artificial intelligence, i.e., its benefits and risks. Ethan Mollick offers an easily understandable introduction to what seems a discovery equivalent to the age of enlightenment. The ramification of A.I. on the future of society is immense. That may seem hyperbolic, but the world dramatically changed with the enlightenment and subsequent industrial revolution in ways that remind one of what A.I. is beginning today.

Mollick explains how A.I. uses what is called an LLM (Large Language Model) to consume every written text in the world and use that information to create ideas and responses to human questions about yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Unlike the limitation of human memory, A.I. has the potential of recalling everything that has been documented by human beings since the beginning of written language. A.I. uses that information to formulate responses to human inquiry. The point is that A.I. has no conscience about what is right or wrong, true or false, moral or immoral.

A.I. can as easily fabricate a lie as a truth because it draws on what others have written or spoken.

The risk of that A.I. capability is that its source of response can be as diverse as recall of “Mein Kamph” beliefs, a biblical texMORALITYt, or the written records of ancient and modern philosophers.

Additionally, Mollick notes that A.I. is capable of reproducing a person’s speech and appearance so that it is nearly impossible to note the differences between the real and artificial representation. It becomes possible for the leader of any country to be artificially created to order their subordinates or tell the world they are going to invade or decimate another country by any means necessary.

Mollick argues there are four possible futures for Artificial Intelligence.

Presuming A.I. does not evolve beyond its present capability, it could still supercharge human productivity. On the other hand, A.I. might become a more sophisticated “deep fake” tool that misleads humanity. A.I. may evolve to believe only in itself and act to disrupt or eliminate human society. A fourth possibility is that A.I. will become a tool of human beings to improve societal decisions that benefit humanity. It may offer practical solutions for global warming, species preservation, interstellar travel and habitation.

The point Mollick makes is that human beings need to recognize the importance of shaping the future of A.I. by understanding and using it as a tool for the benefit society.

A.I. is not an oracle of truth. It has the memory of society at its beck and call. With that capability, humans have the opportunity to avoid mistakes of the past and pursue unknown opportunities for the future. On the other hand, humans may become complacent and allow A.I. to develop itself without human regulation. The question is–will humans or A.I. decide whether artificial intelligence is a tool or controller and regulator of society.

HOPE VS. ACTION

Hannah Ritchie advises that a Sixth Extinction event, unlike former extinction events, can be stopped because it is manmade.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“Not the End of the World” (How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet)

By: Hannah Ritchie

Narrated by: Hannah Ritchie

Hannah Ritchie (Author, Scottish data scientist, senior researcher at the University of Oxford, undergraduate degree in environmental geoscience and master’s in carbon management, working on a Ph D.)

Hannah Richie is vilified by some environmentalist who suggest she looks at global warming as a problem on its way to resolution. They argue Richie offers an unreasonably optimistic view of global warming. She obviously believes global warming is real, but argues history shows humanity is dealing with the crises and is working on what must be done to survive the future.

A little history: Since 1850, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated the world temperature would increase by 2 degrees Fahrenheit per decade. However, in 2023 NOAA shows the actual average has been 2.43 degrees Fahrenheit per decade since the 1850s. The 10 warmest years have been in the last decade.

Though the exact temperature increase is disputed by other scientific studies, there is no rational disagreement on evidence of warming. Global warming is having an effect on world’ biodiversity.

Richie notes loss of forest lands from farming and timber production adds to global warming because trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air.

Atmospheric carbon-load increases global warming. Counter intuitively, Richie argues the building of cities and concentration of populations improves the world’s environment by moving people into the city which aids biodiversity in the country. She argues population services in a city reduces inefficient travel, conserves energy, encourages mechanized farming, reduces the environmental load of human’ waste disposal, and promotes community-wide water conservation.

As noted by many historians, sources of energy that are polluting the atmosphere have changed over the centuries. With few exceptions, these energy sources required burning. The world has moved from wood burning to coal to oil to non-burning energy sources like nuclear and alternative energy sources that have reduced carbon in the atmosphere. Richie notes each stage of energy development has incrementally reduced pollution, but global warming continues because of population increase and the continued use of fossil fuels in industrial production.

Richie notes the rate of world population increase has incrementally decreased and continues to decline with fewer babies being born per family.

Richie believes earth’s human population will plateau at around 10 billion people. At the same time the machine age and technology will improve efficiency of fossil fuel use to reduce the rate of environmental pollution. Richie infers the hope of limiting earth’s warming to 1.5 degree centigrade in this century (3 degrees Fahrenheit) is unlikely to be achieved. Still, she remains optimistic based on human history’s technological improvements since the agricultural and industrial revolutions. Richie is a proponent of nuclear energy because of its efficiency and clean energy potential. She discounts nuclear accidents by noting even with the worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl, deaths were minimal. (Less than 40 people were killed in the disaster with some disagreement about the number of deaths from indirect exposure.)

What is off-putting to many people is Richie’s argument for societal change. She argues the world population must become more vegan because of the negative environmental consequence of raising beef and sheep for food. Richie argues food shortages are the greater risk to human survival. To sustain the lives of ten billion people in the world, Richie believes there is not enough arable land to raise livestock and feed the hungry. She implies only with the advance of agricultural research and produce, including the creation of nutritious meat substitutes, can the world’s future population be sustained.

The threat Richie gives at the end of her book is that that speed of today’s individual extinction of species is a clear warning of what may be the sixth mass extinction, the Anthropocene Extinction, the death of humankind. She advises that a Sixth Extinction event, unlike former extinction events, can be stopped because it is manmade. Richie explains how a Sixth Extinction can be un-manmade by human beings’ actions. Richie argues humans are responsible for despoiling earth and it is up to humans to change nature’s degradation and its potential for a Sixth Extinction.

Richie offers solutions for global warming that are in the hands of humanity. She may be overly optimistic but hope changes to reality with action.

GODLESS

Sartre seemed right when he wrote “hell is other people” in “No Exit”. Neither belief in humanism nor God seem to hold an answer for humanity’s future.

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“Humanly Possible” (Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Optimism)

By: Sarah Bakewell

Narrated by: Antonia Beamish

Sarah Bakewell (British author and professor, received the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize for non-fiction in 2018.

Sarah Bakewell provides a detailed history of humanism. To many, Bakewell’s story is a history of society falling away from God. Bakewell puts religion aside while explaining why and how humanists challenge religious belief and lean toward science as an explanation of life.

Bakewell notes humanism reaches back to the 5th century BCE with the Greek philosopher Protagoras. He was a teacher identified by Plato in a dialogue titled “Protagoras”. Through Plato’s dialogue, one finds Protagoras taught the importance of literature, and art that infers a set of moral principles to guide human behavior. Several centuries later, Diogenes Laertius writes “Lives of the Philosophers” that adds to history’s knowledge of Protagoras’s beliefs. Protagoras taught public speaking, poetry criticism, citizenship, and grammar.

Protagoras (490-420 BCE, Bakewell suggests Protagoras set the foundation for the humanist movement.)

Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) takes up the humanist movement during the Italian Renaissance. Petrarch became internationally known as a humanist. He traveled extensively, looking for Classical manuscripts and ancient texts to recover the knowledge of Greek and Roman writers. He discovered letters that told of Cicero’s personal life–what it was like in the late Roman Republic (106-43 BCE). Cicero’s observations showed the importance of human character in the way one lives life.

Francesco Petracco (1304-1374, Italian scholar and poet and one of the earliest students and promoters of humanism.)

Collection of ancient manuscripts by Petrarch and Coluccio Salutati (1331-1406) of Florence expanded the humanist movement. Giovanni Boccaccio writes “The Decameron”, a collection of short stories that reinforces the principles of human worth and dignity, belief in reason and human ethics, and the value of critical thinking, i.e., humanist ideals.

GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO (1313-1375, ITALIAN WRITER, POET, AND HUMANIST)

The humanist mantle is picked up in England and the wider part of continental Europe after the early 15th century. Erasmus, Sir Thomas More, and William Shakespeare, reinforce the movement. Desiderius Erasmus is a Dutch humanist. He attacks the excessive powers of the papacy. He values human liberty more than orthodoxy. He inspires the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. He emphasizes the study of classics over medieval tradition. Erasmus has great impact on the Renaissance and its religious and intellectual climate with an eye for life on earth, more than an afterlife. He wrote “The Praise of Folly”, satirizing religious practices based on superstition and impiety. Though he hoped for divine mercy, Erasmus emphasized faith and good deeds in life, humanist ideals.

Bakewell notes Sir Thomas More writes “Utopia”, published in 1516, that describes an ideal society that addresses penology, state-controlled education, religious pluralism, divorce, euthanasia, and surprisingly, women’s rights.

Shakespeare’s plays introduce psychological realism and depth to human thought and action. Much of what he writes is secular rather than religious. Shakespeare implies life on earth is more than preparation for an afterlife.

Shakespeare suggests life on earth is more than preparation for an afterlife. Death is viewed as final, a humanist view of life and death.

Bakewell goes on to write of Denis Diderot, David Hume, Kant, Adam Smith, and Voltaire. They become leaders of humanism in the 17th and 18th centuries. Diderot emphasizes critical thinking, education, and secular values. Hume writes “A Treatise of Human Nature” to explain human morality. Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” reflects on national economic growth and how the principle of “raising all boats” comes from free enterprise and free trade, humanity in action.

Denis Diderot (French philosopher 1743-1784)

The idea of humanism is rocketed into American thought by Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species”.

CHARLES DARWIN (1809-1882) FOUNDER OF THE THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.

Natural selection became a science-based explanation for the origin of species, including human beings. Its impact is evident in the personal transition of Darwin (the son of a medical doctor and grandson of a botanist), who planned to join the clergy, but became a person who identifies himself as an agnostic. Thomas Henry Huxley publicly endorses Darwin’s theory and coins the term “agnosticism” in 1869. Many of the scientific community joined that endorsement during Darwin’s life.

As Bakewell advances her history into the twentieth century, Thomas Mann and Bertrand Rusell carry the torch of humanism. The interesting point made about humanism by Mann is that a humanist must guard against the tendency to reason too much. The rise of Nazism in Mann’s home country and the repressiveness of Stalin’s (and now Putin’s) communism are examples of what concerned Mann. On the one hand, Mann recognizes the “unbearable pity for the sufferings of mankind” but also the danger of accepting authoritarian leaders who preach nationalist socialism or communism while promoting nationalist hegemony, forced labor, racial discrimination, ethnic cleansing, and gender inequality. The rise of Nazism and Putin’s invasion of Ukraine show how authoritarian reasoning can magnify the sufferings of humanity.

Paul Thomas Mann (1875-1955, German novelist, won Nobel Prize in literature 1929, wrote “Buddenbrooks “and “The Magic Mountain”)

Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher, mathematician, logician, historian, and humanist activist, warned against superstition and preached the importance of education. Both Mann and Russell advance the ideals of humanism. One still reserves judgement about humanist’ rejection of God when both religion and science have a mixed history for humanity.

Bakewell does not end with just a history of humanism. She speculates on where humanism may go from here.

She acknowledges her own beliefs as a humanist. She notes humanism has been noted in the past as a fragile vessel for transporting humanity into a future. The vessel’s fragility is in the nature of human beings.

Few can doubt we are self-interested animals that have to come to grips with what is ultimately in our self-interest.

Human self-interest must change from greed for money and/or power for humanism to work. If self-interest rests anywhere, it needs to be in the prestige that is earned by being engaged with the welfare of humanity. In light of history, human pursuit of societal welfare seems only to appear when annihilation is nigh. The war in Ukraine and human history are evidence of humanity’s failures. When perceived threats to peace and happiness disappear, humanity returns to the destructive self-interest of money and power.

Sartre seemed right when he wrote “hell is other people” in “No Exit”. Neither belief in humanism nor God seem to hold an answer for humanity’s future.

NUCLEAR RISK & REWARD

The two edges of nuclear physics that may save or destroy the world is still with us. The best humanity can hope for is balance between human nature and science.

Blog: awalkingdelight

Books of Interest
Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“American Prometheus” The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

By: Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin

Narrated by: Jeff Cummings

Kai Bird (American author and columnist who wrote about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Born in 1951.)

Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin tell the story of America’s “god of fire”. Like the myth of Prometheus who reveals Olympian gods’ knowledge of fire, J. Robert Oppenheimer reveals physicists’ secrets of nuclear fission that give atomic power to humanity. Their history tells listeners of the risk entailed in research and production of nuclear bombs.

J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967, Died at the age of 62.)

Bird and Sherwin offer an intimate and revealing story of J. Robert Oppenheimer that reveals his genius, his human frailty, his growth as a project manager, and the abysmal way American government treated his historic achievements.

Like Promethius’s fire, the heat of atomic power can destroy or benefit humanity.

Every student of history knows of atomic powers potential to destroy.

NEVER AGAIN?

Though Bird’s and Sherwin’s history is more about Oppenheimer’s life than his discoveries, it seems prudent to note Oppenheimer discovered the Born-Oppenheimer molecular wave functions about how electrons and positrons work. Oppenheimer also worked with fellow physicist William Phillips on the Oppenheimer-Phillips process in nuclear fusion with work on what is called quantum tunneling. Though Oppenheimer was nominated for a Nobel Prize three times, he never won. Phillips and Steven Chu receive the Nobel in 1997.

Max Born (German/British physicist, 1882-1970)

The great controversy surrounding Oppenheimer is his association with communism. Bird and Sherwin clearly acknowledge the association but convincingly argue Oppenheimer was an American patriot who contributed to communist social welfare programs without being a card-carrying member of the CP.

“American Promethius” illustrates Oppenheimer’s growth as a consummate manager of a complex organization that could successfully develop a weapon of mass destruction, an atomic bomb that can end war. However, as history shows, the atom bomb may end a world war, but nuclear bombs become a threat to human existence by any nation that acquires the same technology.

Los Alamos National Laboratory entrance located a short distance NW of Santa Fe, NM

The first atomic bomb exploded on July 16, 1945 in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

The authors show Oppenheimer’s understanding of an atom bomb’s threat by quoting the Bhagavad Gita. “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Oppenheimer refuses to continue research on Edward Teller’s plan to create a fusion bomb of even greater destructive potential. Teller succeeds in creating that bomb. Oppenheimer recognizes any small or large nation that gains fusion bomb technology increases a threat to humanity.

The second atomic bomb test at Bikini Atoll was a fusion bomb released on July 25, 1946. The Marshall Islands, where Bikini is located, is suing the U.S. for what it calls a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Edward Teller was a leading physicist who worked on the Los Alamos project. Teller’s difficult interpersonal relations and volatile personality made him an important influencer, and defamer of Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer refuses to continue research on a fusion bomb because of its destructive potential and its potential influence in an arms race.

Edward Teller (1908-2003) Hungarian American, theoretical physicist who was the principal inventor of the hydrogen bomb based on the principle of fusion. It’s destructive potential from heat and light are substantially greater than the two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan.)

Teller and an American German physicist, Hans Bethe a team leader, come to lager heads when Bethe agrees with Oppenheimer’s’ focus on a fission rather than fusion bomb. Teller fell out with his team leader, as well as Oppenheimer, over the disagreement.

Hans Bethe (1906-2005, received a Nobel Prize in 1967 for the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis.)

The arrival of Niels Bohr (1885-1962) at Los Alamos in 1943 raises a fundamental concern about creation of a weapon of mass destruction. Bohr’s concern is a nation’s failure to share nuclear physics technology about the bomb with allied forces, particularly Russia, to avoid an international arms race.

Bohr believes scientific cooperation would reduce the probability of an arms race. Bohr’s view seems idealistic in light of today’s history, but the idea is adopted by Oppenheimer. Nuclear weapons have become widely coveted by weaker economic nations of the world because of their political systems failure to improve the lives of their citizens.

Human nature is not overcome by technological sharing because of differences in fundamental religious and political beliefs.

Pursuit of the bomb is just another tool to accelerate national leaders’ political or religious beliefs. Niels Bohr’s noble idea and Oppenheimer’s acknowledgement of the value of sharing science is victim to national leaders’ beliefs and human nature.

A nation like North Korea covets the bomb because it gives them the ability to punch (negotiate or fight) above their weight. A nation like Iran is led by a religious leader who only views the modern world in light of a beneficent afterlife.

Katherine Oppenheimer. Robert’s wife (1910-1972, German American biologist, botanist, and member of the Communist Party.)

A disturbing note about Oppenheimer is his marriage to his wife, Katherine “Kitty” Puening whom he married in 1940. Kitty became pregnant before they married. They had two children, a boy and girl. This is Kitty’s fourth marriage. Neither parent seems to show much interest in their children. Kitty is shown to be a free spirit, beautiful and charming who generally supports Oppenheimer in his job at Los Alamos. One wonders how their children were affected by their parents’ neglect. Their daughter committed suicide in 1977. The boy still lives in New Mexico and makes a living as a carpenter.

In 1947, Oppenheimer is recruited by Princeton to head a new organization that is called the Institute for Advanced Study. Because of frequent trips to Washington D.C. and the attraction of running a broad organization for the study of science and humanities, Oppenheimer chooses to take the position. His team management experience at Los Alamos and his broad interest in the humanities make Oppenheimer a perfect match for the position. With millions of dollars set aside for the Institute, Oppenheimer attracts the best and brightest science and humanities luminaries from around the world. Einstein, Kurt Godel, John von Neumann, George Kennan, T.S. Eliot, and too many more to mention, were recruited by Oppenheimer. Some were at the height of their professions and became Nobel Prize winners.

The last chapters of “American Prometheus” address the investigation of Oppenheimer’s communist associations during the McCarthy era.

His greatest initial concern was for his brother, Frank, who had joined the communist party. However, the wide range of the investigation and the zealous pursuit of Lewis Strauss, a former shoe salesman who chaired the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), results in Oppenheimer’s security clearance being stripped. His reputation is unfairly diminished by overzealous politicians and investigators ranging from the FBI director to the AEC chairman.

One leaves this history with a feeling of shame about how Oppenheimer is treated by some and over-praised by others. No human being is without faults, regardless of their intelligence and ability. Oppenheimer was an American patriot who served America with what it needed in the circumstances of his time.

J. Robert Oppenheimer (center) receives the 1963 Enrico Fermi Award from President Lyndon B. Johnson at a White House ceremony on December 2, 1963, as then AEC chairman Glenn Seaborg (left) looks on. (Photo: DOE). He died at age 62 in 1967.

The two edges of nuclear physics that may save or destroy the world is still with us. The best humanity can hope for is balance between human nature and science.

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