I, A Universe of Atoms, An Atom in the Universe
‘If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong.
In that simple statement is the key to science.
It doesn’t make any difference how beautiful your guess is.’
Richard Feynman
One theory can be fundamental, until
replaced by something far more fundamental.
Well-defined approximations ignite
our investigation into the centre of time.
Momentary gaps in knowledge
begin a brilliant wildfire as science
calculates all loops that bridge us.
Let us consider, a wall built along the seashore
There is gravity and there is everything else.
The probability of waves integral
to all that ever was and all that will ever be.
We guess, compute, test,
observe, compare, confirm.
We estimate in the first flash
of the Planck epoch, subatomic particles smash
open. All laws of physics indecipherable
then spill like a box of crayons, pouring abstractions.
We measure the Higgs boson, the universal courier.
Viscous binding for all mass. Treacle.
Without the Higgs field, particles careen
without purpose, unable to form.
We anticipate quarks riding in packs, never alone
feeling the full pull of the family lasso:
up, down, strange, charm, bottom, top
Flavors switching, an evolving tongue.
We confirm the neutrino and comb
for dark matter. Angular momentum
dispersing Fibonacci numbers in the air
I don't want to believe. I want to know.
Facts and suppositions always descend
in a vacuum at the same rate as a feather
but they don’t hold the same weight.
Conjecture is sometimes shiny but
facts are infinitely brighter.
header image: "hunting stars," y. beletsky (LCO)/ESO
