The Universe Within: From Quantum to Cosmos, Neil Turok, House of Anansi Press, Toronto, 2012. $15.95 (292 pp.). ISBN 978-1-77089-017-6
The Universe Within: From Quantum to Cosmos is based on the 2012 Massey Lectures delivered by cosmologist Neil Turok, director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. (The lectures are produced annually by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) As the title suggests, the book covers a broad range of subjects, including the latest discoveries in particle physics, cosmology, and quantum information. In fewer than 300 pages, Turok provides a pleasant tour through the important historical developments that have brought us to our unprecedented understanding of fundamental science.
Turok is one of the most original living scientists and as such gives an authoritative presentation. But what makes the book unique is its emphasis on human aspects, including those from his own life experience. Born in South Africa and raised there and elsewhere in Africa, he and his family endured struggles and difficult transitions resulting from his parents’ anti-apartheid actions that shaped him over the years. Those experiences explain how such a prominent theoretical physicist, with former professorships at Princeton University and the University of Cambridge, has been able to simultaneously be a leader in science education in Africa.
Arguably one of Turok’s most important achievements to date has been the founding in 2003 of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences in South Africa. AIMS prepares African postundergraduate students for graduate programs in African universities and around the world. It has led to the African Mathematical Institutes Network, which promotes the development of mathematical sciences throughout the continent. Another AIMS has recently been launched in Senegal, and several more are in the works.
Turok’s rich background more than justifies his combining this personal account with his views on physics and, most importantly, his general vision on the importance of science and the need to promote it in developing countries. Coming myself from a developing country and having shared a decade with Turok as his colleague at Cambridge, I witnessed firsthand his excitement during the beginning of AIMS. That was a source of inspiration for me when I later accepted the directorship of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), an institution that has been working for almost 50 years to promote science in developing countries. Indeed, Africa has great potential with a young and fast-growing population eager to become leading scientists and engineers—the type of talent that the continent desperately needs.
Regarding the science in The Universe Within, the presentation is simple and the language is accessible to a general audience. The book does not pretend to be fully objective or comprehensive. It reads more like a conversation, alternating personal statements and curious historical notes with clever analogies and scientific explanations, than a logically organized textbook discussion of the topics. Compared with similar books, including those by physicists Brian Greene and Stephen Hawking, The Universe Within takes a more direct route to the main points and excludes some details to make space for the vision and human aspects.
Some of Turok’s views on physics run counter to the mainstream. He critically assesses the popular early-universe inflationary scenario and argues for his and Paul Steinhardt’s theory, which is based on the idea of a cyclical universe. A nonexpert reading about Turok’s public bets with Hawking and with Eva Silverstein, both proponents of inflation, may come away from The Universe Within with the impression that a failure of the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite to observe telltale gravitational waves would favor the cyclic universe over the inflationary one. Having worked on inflation myself, and since plenty of inflationary scenarios do not lead to observable gravitational waves, I, too, would have wagered against Hawking and Silverstein.
Turok is also critical of some developments in string theory, in particular that the existence of six extra dimensions ultimately suggests a huge number of potential universes. That result has led to controversial anthropic arguments to explain physics puzzles such as the nature of dark energy. However, his own early-universe proposal lies within string theory and must also address the many possible realizations introduced by the extra dimensions and, unlike inflation, also the Big Bang singularity. Turok rightly points out that without addressing the Big Bang singularity, inflation and other theories of the early universe are at best incomplete.
Just as with cosmology, Turok’s views on education are not standard. He insists that there should be a new way to educate the young generations, including introducing multidisciplinary subjects and emphasizing teamwork. Those approaches are successfully employed at both AIMS and the Perimeter Institute. Turok emphasizes the conditions that led to important scientific developments: For example, the late 18th-century Scotland school system, which was based on critical thinking, led to the Enlightenment, and produced such great minds as James Clerk Maxwell and Lord Kelvin. Turok also remarks that scientific leaders of the early 20th century, such as Albert Einstein, Max Born, and Niels Bohr, belonged to the first few generations of Western Europeans of Jewish origin who were allowed to attend universities and who made the most of their opportunities. I find that example very encouraging for young scientists from developing countries.
This book is an ode to science and the importance it holds today more than ever. It reminds us that the pursuit of science gives us the joy to wonder about and find answers to the mysteries of the universe, but also provides us with the tools needed to address future societal challenges. The Universe Within invites other scientists to move out of their shells and participate more actively in this endeavor. It is an excellent and inspiring read.
Fernando Quevedo is director of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. He is also a professor in the department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge in the UK.
