.png)
By Thomas Hulse
Overlooking a forest ridge out over the misted treetops, a rainbow rests lightly in the sky. With every color known to man, it pulls us back into our past, where our ancestors saw the same arc thousands of years prior. How is it that every rainbow is created just so, in the same way every time? Some act of divine beauty gracing our senses with awe? In fact, by measuring the angle that the rainbow makes with the sun rays, you can find that it always makes 42°. This is because, of all the rays reflected inside water droplets, the outgoing rays emerge more frequently around this angle, causing an increased intensity which we can see. And the different colors are caused by dispersion inside the droplets—different frequencies of light refracting at different angles.
A criticism often levelled unfairly at physicists is that they turn the beautiful world around us into a series of equations to be solved. It is true that there are few questions in Nature for which physics has failed to attempt an explanation. Light, matter, gravity, heat, even motion itself are the domain of the physicist, and the physicist seeks to uncover the truth of Nature through these fields. It was once said of one of the world’s greatest mathematicians that, “Every positive integer is one of Ramanujan’s personal friends.” In the same way, the physicist sees these concepts of Nature as his friends with whom he regularly thinks of, engages, argues with, and appreciates. The physicist is endlessly surprised by light and is delighted with all his tricks. He is endeared by the old electron, with a friendship as old as civilization and with depths still more to be explored. He knows energy to be ever loyal and reliable, giving guidance for the dark path forward.
Although physicists try to compress Mother Nature into simple forms which we can understand, this does no disservice to her beauty. What we have learned from her is that though she may wear plain clothes, she has the richest personality. Physicists do not miss out on the infinite beauty of the world—they understand it better than most. Who has more appreciation for a beautiful work of art: Charles Darwin or Claude Monet? Expertise provides a more meaningful appreciation for the things we value. Everyone hopes to be loved by an intelligent person who does so purposefully rather than a fool who doesn’t know any better. In the same way, physicists flatter Nature and love her fully, truly, and most faithfully. And, by continuing her works into man’s own—computers, spaceships, chemistry—physicists manifest that beauty into reality, bringing into the world some part of the divine itself.