The Character Of Physical Law：Character of Physical Law

."..Fascinating...aninsightintothethoughtprocessesofagreatphysicist."--"TimesLiterarySupplement"Inthese"MessengerLectures,"originallydeliveredatCornellUniversityandrecordedfortelevisionbytheBBC,RichardFeynmanoffersanoverviewofselectedphysicallawsandgatherstheircommonfeaturesintoonebroadprincipleofinvariance.Hemaintainsattheoutsetthattheimportanceofaphysicallawisnot"howcleverwearetohavefounditout,but...howclevernatureistopayattentiontoit,"andtendshisdiscussionstowardafinalexpositionoftheeleganceandsimplicityofallscientificlaws.Ratherthananessayonthemostsignificantachievementsinmodernscience,"TheCharacterofPhysicalLaw"isastatementofwhatismostremarkableinnature.Feynman'senlightenedapproach,hiswit,andhisenthusiasmmakethisamemorableexpositionofthescientist'scraft.TheLawofGravitationistheauthor'sprincipalexample.Relatingthedetailsofitsdiscoveryandstressingitsmathematicalcharacter,heusesittodemonstratetheessentialinteractionofmathematicsandphysics.Heviewsmathematicsasthekeytoanysystemofscientificlaws,suggestingthatifitwerepossibletofilloutthestructureofscientifictheorycompletely,theresultwouldbeanintegratedsetofmathematicalaxioms.Theprinciplesofconservation,symmetry,andtime-irreversibilityarethenconsideredinrelationtodevelopmentsinclassicalandmodernphysics,andinhisfinallectureFeynmandevelopshisownanalysisoftheprocessandfutureofscientificdiscovery.Likeanysetoforalreflections,"TheCharacterofPhysicalLaw"hasspecialvalueasademonstrationofthemindinaction.ThereaderisparticularlyluckyinRichardFeynman.Oneofthemosteminentandimaginativemodernphysicists,hewasProfessorofTheoreticalPhysicsattheCaliforniaInstituteofTechnologyuntilhisdeathin1988.Heisbestknownforhisworkonthequantumtheoryoftheelectromagneticfield,aswellasforhislaterresearchinthefieldoflow-temperaturephysics.In1954hereceivedtheAlbertEinsteinAwardforhis"outstandingcontributiontoknowledgeinmathematicalandphysicalsciences";in1965hewasappointedtoForeignMembershipintheRoyalSocietyandwasawardedtheNobelPrize.