The elegance of The Elegant Universe: Unity, beauty, and harmony in Brian Greene’s popularization of superstring theory

Author(s)

Rachel Edford, University of Central FloridaFollow

Keywords

Brian Greene; superspring theory; popular science; rhetoric

Abstract

The emergence of string theory into popular culture can be seen recent episodes of Joan of Arcadia and the NOVA series based on Brian Greene’s best-selling book, The Elegant Universe. Greene’s book has played a significant role in string theory’s emergence into popular culture. In order to persuade the general public to accept the new and controversial theory of superstrings as a revolutionary scientific theory, Greene carefully constructs his argument in The Elegant Universe, reinforcing the elegance and beauty of string theory and downplaying string theory’s lack of experimental verification. The Elegant Universe itself is an elegantly constructed argument, in terms of both its overall structure and its language, particularly in the use of musical and linguistic analogies. The threads of Greene’s argument are carefully woven to create the unified textual fabric of his argument, just as the fundamental superstrings are woven to create a unified fabric of spacetime and a unified theoretical tapestry for modern physics.

Date Created

April 2006

Notes

https://web.archive.org/web/20060502020235/http://www.popularculture.org/2006%20PAGES/Program%20Full.htm

STARS Citation

Edford, Rachel, "The elegance of The Elegant Universe: Unity, beauty, and harmony in Brian Greene’s popularization of superstring theory" (2006). EGS Content. 256.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/egs_content/256

https://works.bepress.com/rachel-edford/10/download/