Michio Kaku: The Universe in a Nutshell

The Universe in a Nutshell: The Physics of Everything
Michio Kaku, Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at CUNY

What if we could find one single equation that explains every force in the universe? Dr. Michio Kaku explores how physicists may shrink the science of the Big Bang into an equation as small as Einstein's "e=mc^2." Thanks to advances in string theory, physics may allow us to escape the heat death of the universe, explore the multiverse, and unlock the secrets of existence. While firing up our imaginations about the future, Kaku also presents a succinct history of physics and makes a compelling case for why physics is the key to pretty much everything.

The Floating University
Originally released September, 2011.

[Music]

[The Floating University]

[Michio Kaku] My name is Professor Michio Kaku.

I'm a professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York,

[Dr. Michio Kaku - Professor of theoretical Phyics, The City University of New York - Specialist in String Theory
The Universe in a Nutshell - The Physics of Everything]

and I specialize in something called String Theory.

I'm a physicist, and some people ask me the question:

"What has physics done for me lately? I mean, do I get better color television?

Do I get better internet reception with physics?"

And the answer is: yes.

You see, physics is at the very foundation of matter and energy.

We physicists invented the laser beam, we invented the transistor,

we helped to create the first computer, we helped to construct the internet,

we wrote the World Wide Web.

In addition, we also helped to invent television, radio, radar, microwaves,

not to mention MRI scans, PET scans, X rays.

In other words, almost everything you see in your living room,

almost everything you see in a modern hospital, at some point or other, can be traced to a physicist.

Now, I got interested in physics when I was a child.

(Michio Kaku - Age 8)
When I was 8, a great scientist had just died.

I still remember my elementary school teacher coming into the room and announcing that

the greatest scientist of our era has just passed away.

And that day, every newspaper published a picture of his desk,

the desk of Albert Einstein.

And the caption said -- I'll never forget--

"The unfinished manuscript of the greatest work of the greatest scientist of our time."

And I said to myself: "Why couldn't he finish it? I mean, what's so hard?

It's a homework problem, right? Why didn't he ask his mother? Why can't he finish this problem?"

So, as a child of eight, I decided to find out what was this problem?

Years later, I began to realize that it was the theory of everything: the Unified Field Theory.

An equation that would summarize all the physical forces in the universe.

An equation like e = mc^2. That equation is half an inch long,

and that equation unlocks a secret of the stars.

Why do the stars shine? Why does the galaxy light up?

Why do we have energy on the earth?

But then there was another thing that happened to me when I was around eight years old.

I got hooked on the Saturday morning TV shows. In particular, Flash Gordon.

And I was hooked. I mean, every Saturday morning, watching programs about aliens from outer space:

Starships, ray guns, invisibility shields, cities in the sky--that was for me.

But after a few years, I began to notice something.

First of all, I began to notice that, well, I didn't have blonde hair and blue eyes,

I didn't have muscles like Flash Gordon, but there was a scientist who made the series work.

In particular, a physicist.

He was the one who discovered the ray gun, the starships.

He was the one who created the invisibility shield.

And then I realized something else: If you want to understand the future,

you have to understand physics.

Physics is at the foundation of all, the gadgetry, the wizardry,

all the marvels of the technological age, all of it can be traced

to the work of a physicist.

[PHYSICS AND THE IMPOSSIBLE]

Most of science fiction is, in fact, well within the laws of physics,

but possible within maybe a hundred years.

Then we have impossibilities that may take a thousand years or more.

That includes time travel, warp drive, higher dimensions,

portals through space and time, stargates, worm holes.

You know--if you were to meet your great grandparents of the year 1900,

they were dirt farmers back then.

They didn't live much beyond the age of 40, on average.

Long distance communication in the year 1900 was yelling at your neighbor,

and yet, if they could see you now,

with iPads and iPods and satellites and GPS and laser beams,

how would they view you?

They may view you as a wizard or sorcerer.

However, if we can now meet our grand kids of the year 2100,

how would we view them?

We would view them as gods like in Greek mythology.

Zeus could control objects around him by pure thought,

materialize objects just by pure thinking,

and there are perks to being a Greek god.

Venus had a perfect body, a timeless body,

and we are beginning now to unravel the genetics at the molecular level of the aging process.

And then Apollo, he had a chariot that he could ride across the heavens.

We will finally have that flying car that we have always wanted to have in our garage by the year 2100.

We will have the power of the gods.

To paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke, [Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)]

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from divinity."

[HISTORY OF PHYSICS]

So, let's now begin our story.

The history of physics is the history of modern civilization.

Before Isaac Newton, before Galileo

we were shrouded with the mysteries of superstition.

People believed in all sorts of different kinds of spirits and demons.

What made the planets move?

Why do things interact with other things? It was a mystery.

So, back in the middle ages, for example,

people read the works of Aristotle, and Aristotle asked a question

"Why do objects move toward the earth?"

And that's because, he said, "Objects yearn--yearn to be united with the earth."

And why do objects slow down when you put them in motion?

"Objects in motion slow down because they get tired."

These are the words of Aristotle, which held sway for almost 2,000 years until the beginning of modern physics

[HISTORY OF PHYSICS]

[BEGINNING OF MODERN PHYSICS]

with Galileo and Isaac Newton.

When the ancients looked at the sky, the sky was full of mystery and wonder.

And in the year 1066, the most important date on the British calendar,

there was a comet--a comet would sail over the battlefield of Hastings.

It frightened the troops of King Harold, and a young man from Normandy

swept into England and defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings,

creating the modern British monarchy.

But the question is, where did the comet come from?

What was this comet that mysteriously paved the way for the coming of the British monarchy?

Well, [inaudible], that same comet--the very same comet

that initiated the British monarchy

sailed over London once again in 1682.

This time, everyone was asking the question, where do comets come from?

Do they signal the death of the kings?

Why do we have messengers from the heavens in the sky?

Well, one man dared to penetrate the secrets of comets,

and that was Isaac Newton.

[Isaac Newton] [1643-1727]

In fact, when Isaac Newton was only 23 years old, he stumbled upon the universal force of gravitation.

According to one story, he was walking on his estate in Wilsthorpe and he saw an apple fall.

And then Isaac Newton saw the moon.

And then he asked the key question which helped to unlock the heavens.

"If apples fall, does the moon also fall?"

And the answer was: Yes.

And that answer overturned thousands of years of mystery and speculation about the motions of the heavens.

The moon is in free fall just like an apple.

The moon is constantly falling toward the earth.

It doesn't hit the Earth because it spins around the Earth, and the Earth is round,

but it's acting under a force--the force of gravity.

[Gravity: FOUR FORCES OF THE UNIVERSE]

So, Newton immediately tried to work out the mathematics.

And he realized that the mathematics of this 1600's was not sufficient to work out the motion

of a falling moon.

So, what did Isaac Newton do?

When he was 23 years old, not only did he stumble upon the force of gravity,

but he also created Calculus.

In fact, he created Calculus at the rate at which you learn it when you are a freshman in college.

And why did he create Calculus?

To calculate the motion of a falling moon.

The mathematics of this age was incapable of calculating

the trajectories of objects moving under an inverse square force field.

And that's what Isaac Newton did; he worked out the motion of the moon,

and then he realized that if he understands the moon,

he also understands the motion of the planets in the solar system.

And Isaac Newton invented a new telescope.

It was the reflecting telescope, and he was tracking the motion of this comet.

Well, it turns out that everyone was talking about the comet, including a rather wealthy Englishman

by the name of Edmund Halley. [Edmund Halley: 1656-1742]

So, Edmund Halley, being a wealthy merchant, decided to make a trip to Cambridge

to talk to England's illustrious scientist, Sir Isaac Newton.

Well, Edmund Halley asked Newton, "What do you make of this comet?"

"No one understands comets, they're a mystery."

"They've been fascinating people for centuries, millennia--what are your thoughts?"

And then, I paraphrase, but Isaac Newton said something like this.

He said, "Oh, that's easy. That comet is moving at a perfect ellipse. It's moving in an inverse square force field."

"I've been tracking it every day with my reflecting telescope, and the path of that comet

conforms to my mathematics exactly."

And, of course, we don't know what Edmund Halley's reaction was, but I paraphrase.

He must have said something like this, "For God's sake, man, why don't you publish the greatest work

in all of scientific history?

If correct, you have decoded the secret of the stars, the secret of the heavens.

Nobody understands where comets come from!"

And then Newton responded and said, "Oh, well, it costs too much. I mean, I'm not a wealthy man."

"It would cost too much to summarize this calculus that I've invented and to work out all the motion of the stars."

And then Halley must have said this, "Mister Newton, I am a wealthy man."