Skip to content
Home/ Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory (Revised)
Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory (Revised)

Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory (Revised)

No customer reviews yet ISBN 9780393058581 W. W. Norton & Company

Now with a new preface (not in any other edition) that will review the enormous public reception of the relatively obscure string theory--made possible by this book and an increased number of adherents amongst physicists--The Elegant Universe "sets a standard that will be hard to beat" (New York Times Book Review). Brian Greene, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of eleven dimensions, where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter--from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas--is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy.

Today physicists and mathematicians throughout the world are feverishly working on one of the most ambitious theories ever proposed: superstring theory. String theory, as it is often called, is the key to the Unified Field Theory that eluded Einstein for more than thirty years. Finally, the century-old antagonism between the large and the small-General Relativity and Quantum Theory-is resolved. String theory proclaims that all of the wondrous happenings in the universe, from the frantic dancing of subatomic quarks to the majestic swirling of heavenly galaxies, are reflections of one grand physical principle and manifestations of one single entity: microscopically tiny vibrating loops of energy, a billionth of a billionth the size of an atom. In this brilliantly articulated and refreshingly clear book, Greene relates the scientific story and the human struggle behind twentieth-century physics' search for a theory of everything.

Through the masterful use of metaphor and analogy, The Elegant Universe makes some of the most sophisticated concepts ever contemplated viscerally accessible and thoroughly entertaining, bringing us closer than ever to understanding how the universe works.

About the author

Product details

BrandW. W. Norton & Company
Pub dateOct 17, 2003
ISBN-100393058581
ISBN-139780393058581
LanguageEnglish
Hardcover464.0 pages
Dimensions9.6 × 1.4 × 6.5 in
Weight2 lb
Last updated 2026-07-22 19:13
$21.09 $30.00 29% off
You save $8.91 · list price $30.00
In stock — ships in 24 hours with free tracking
Delivery by Monday, October 5, 2026
Qty
Sign in to Add to Saved list
Free delivery on orders over $35.
15-day returns. Any reason.
Secure checkout. We never store card details.

Readers who bought this also bought

More from Physics - Nuclear
See all
Advances in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics: Volume 51
<p>Benjamin Bederson contributed to the world of physics in many areas: in atomic physics, where he achieved renown by his scattering and polarizability experiments, as the Editor-in-Chief for the American Physical Society, where he saw the introduction of electronic publishing and a remarkable growth of the APS journals, with ever increasing world-wide contributions to these highly esteemed journals, and as the originator of a number of international physics conferences in the fields of atomic and collision physics, which are continuing to this day. Bederson was also a great teacher and university administrator.</p> <p>The first part of this volume of <i>Advances in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics</i> (AAMOP), entitled Benjamin Bederson: Works, Comments and Legacies, contains articles written from a personal perspective. His days at Los Alamos during World War II, working on the A bomb, are recounted by V. Fitch. H. Walther writes on the time when both were editors of AAMOP. H. Lustig, E. Merzbacher and B. Crasemann, with whom Bederson had a long-term association at the American Physical Society, contribute their experiences, one of them in the style of a poem. C.D. Rice recalls his days when he was Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at NYU, and the education in physics that he received from Bederson, then Dean of the Graduate School. The contribution by R. Stuewer is on Bederson as physicist historian (his latest interest). N. Lane draws some parallels between "two civic scientists, Benjamin Bederson and the other Benjamin". The papers are introduced by H.H. Stroke, in an overview of Bederson's career. A biography and bibliography are included.</p> <p>The second part of the volume contains scientific articles on the Casimir effects (L. Spruch), dipole polarizabilities (X. Chu, A. Dalgarno), two-electron molecular bonds revisited (G. Chen, S.A. Chin, Y. Dou, K.T. Kapale, M. Kim, A.A. Svidzinsky, K. Uretkin, H. Xiong, M.O. Scully, and resonance fluorescence of two-level atoms (H. Walther). J. Pinard and H.H. Stroke review spectroscopy with radioactive atoms. T. Miller writes on electron attachment and detachment in gases, and, with H. Gould, on recent developments in the measurement of static electric dipole polarizabilities. R. Celotta and J.A. Stroscio's most recent work on trapping and moving atoms on surfaces is contributed here. C.C. Lin and J.B. Borrard's article is on electron-impact excitation cross sections. The late Edward Pollack wrote his last paper for this volume, Atomic and Ionic Collisions. L. Vuskovic and S. Popovi´c write on atomic interactions in a weakly ionized gas and ionizing shock waves. The last scientific article is by H. Kleinpoppen, B. Lohmann, A. Grum-Grzhimailo and U. Becker on approaches to perfect/complete scattering in atomic and molecular physics. The book ends with an essay on teaching by R.E. Collins.</p>
$312.15