Carlo Rovelli

All the beauty of modern physics in fewer than a hundred pages.This is a book about the joy of discovery. A playful, entertaining, and mind-bending introduction to modern physics, it's already a major bestseller in Italy and the United Kingdom. Carlo Rovelli offers surprising—and surprisingly easy to grasp—explanations of general relativity, quantum mechanics, elementary particles, gravity, black holes, the complex architecture of the universe, and the role humans play in this weird and wonderful world. He takes us to the frontiers of our knowledge: to the most minute reaches of the fabric of space, back to the origins of the cosmos, and into the workings of our minds. “Here, on the edge of what we know, in contact with the ocean of the unknown, shines the mystery and the beauty of the world,” Rovelli writes. “And it’s breathtaking.”

Time is a mystery that does not cease to puzzle us. Philosophers, artists and poets have long explored its meaning while scientists have found that its structure is different from the simple intuition we have of it. From Boltzmann to quantum theory, from Einstein to loop quantum gravity, our understanding of time has been undergoing radical transformations. Time flows at different speeds in different places, the past and the future differ far less than we might think and the very notion of the present evaporates in the vast universe. With his extraordinary charm and sense of wonder, bringing together science, philosophy and art, Carlo Rovelli unravels this mystery, inviting us to imagine a world where time is in us and we are not in time.

"The man who makes physics sexy . . . the scientist they're calling the next Stephen Hawking." --The Times Magazine From the New York Times-bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and the forthcoming The Order of Time, a closer look at the mind-bending nature of the universe.What are the elementary ingredients of the world? Do time and space exist? And what exactly is reality? In elegant and accessible prose, theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli leads us on a wondrous journey from Democritus to Einstein, from Michael Faraday to gravitational waves, and from classical physics to his own work in quantum gravity. As he shows us how the idea of reality has evolved over time, Rovelli offers deeper explanations of the theories he introduced so concisely in Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. Rovelli invites us to imagine a marvelous world where space breaks up into tiny grains, time disappears at the smallest scales, and black holes are waiting to explode--a vast universe still largely undiscovered.

A startling new look at quantum theory, from the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time.One of the world's most renowned theoretical physicists, Carlo Rovelli has entranced millions of readers with his singular perspective on the cosmos. In Helgoland, he examines the enduring enigma of quantum theory. The quantum world Rovelli describes is as beautiful as it is unnerving.Helgoland is a treeless island in the North Sea where the twenty-three-year-old Werner Heisenberg made the crucial breakthrough for the creation of quantum mechanics, setting off a century of scientific revolution. Full of alarming ideas (ghost waves, distant objects that seem to be magically connected, cats that appear both dead and alive), quantum physics has led to countless discoveries and technological advancements. Today our understanding of the world is based on this theory, yet it is still profoundly mysterious.As scientists and philosophers continue to fiercely debate the meaning of the theory, Rovelli argues that its most unsettling contradictions can be explained by seeing the world as fundamentally made of relationships rather than substances. We and everything around us exist only in our interactions with one another. This bold idea suggests new directions for thinking about the structure of reality and even the nature of consciousness.Rovelli makes learning about quantum mechanics an almost psychedelic experience. Shifting our perspective once again, he takes us on a riveting journey through the universe so we can better comprehend our place in it.

A mesmerizing trip to the strange world of white holes from the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of TimeLet us journey, with beloved physicist Carlo Rovelli, into the heart of a black hole. We slip beyond its horizon and tumble down this crack in the universe. As we plunge, we see geometry fold. Time and space pull and stretch. And finally, at the black hole’s core, space and time dissolve, and a white hole is born. Rovelli has dedicated his career to uniting the time-warping ideas of general relativity and the perplexing uncertainties of quantum mechanics. In White Holes , he reveals the mind of a scientist at work. He traces the ongoing adventure of his own cutting-edge research, investigating whether all black holes could eventually turn into white holes, equally compact objects in which the arrow of time is reversed.Rovelli writes just as compellingly about the work of a scientist as he does the marvels of the universe. He shares the fear, uncertainty, and frequent disappointment of exploring hypotheses and unknown worlds, and the delight of chasing new ideas to unexpected conclusions. Guiding us beyond the horizon, he invites us to experience the fever and the disquiet of science—and the strange and startling life of a white hole.

In this collection of writings, the logbook of an intelligence always on the move, Carlo Rovelli follows his curiosity and invites us on a voyage through science, history, philosophy and politics.Written with his usual clarity and wit, these pieces range widely across time and space: from Newton's alchemy to Einstein's mistakes, from Nabokov's butterflies to Dante's cosmology, from travels in Africa to the consciousness of an octopus, from mind-altering psychedelic substances to the meaning of atheism.Charming, pithy and elegant, this book is the perfect gateway to the universe of one of the most influential scientists of our age.

THIS BOOK WILL NO LONGER BE AVAILABLE AFTER SEPTEMBER 10, 2021. Carlo Rovelli, a leading theoretical physicist, uses the figure of Anaximander as the starting point for an examination of scientific thinking its limits, its strengths, its benefits to humankind, and its controversial relationship with religion. Anaximander, the sixth-century BC Greek philosopher, is often called the first scientist because he was the first to suggest that order in the world was due to natural forces, not supernatural ones. He is the first person known to understand that the Earth floats in space; to believe that the sun, the moon, and the stars rotate around it—seven centuries before Ptolemy; to argue that all animals came from the sea and evolved; and to posit that universal laws control all change in the world. Anaximander taught Pythagoras, who would build on Anaximander’s scientific theories by applying mathematical laws to natural phenomena. In the award-winning The First Anaximander and His Legacy , translated here for the first time in English, Rovelli restores Anaximander to his place in the history of science by carefully reconstructing his theories from what is known to us and examining them in their historical and philosophical contexts. Rovelli demonstrates that Anaximander’s discoveries and theories were decisive influences, putting Western culture on its path toward a scientific revolution. Developing this connection, Rovelli redefines science as a continuous redrawing of our conceptual image of the world. He concludes that scientific thinking—the legacy of Anaximander—is only reliable when it constantly tests the limits of our current knowledge.

Dans ce court essai, Carlo Rovelli s'interroge sur la notion d'espace et de temps et discute des tentatives de réponses apportées par les théories anciennes et actuelles : relativité générale, mécanique quantique, gravité quantique, cordes et autres boucles...En livrant ses réflexions de physicien qu'il lie intimement à son parcours personnel, ses déboires et ses succès, Carlo Rovelli témoigne de ce que sont la science et la mission du chercheur.

“A novel image of the world is taking shape in fundamental physics: a world without time and without space. Time and space as we know them will disappear from the scientific picture of the world, in the same way in which the centre of the universe did”. In this agile text, derived from a long interview, Carlo Rovelli, theoretical physicist and pioneer of modern quantum gravity, describes his personal and intellectual journey, starting from the rebellion of his young years and the discovery of the “enchanting adventure” of theoretical research, till the vertiginous hypotheses of today’s physics. In a simple language, Rovelli introduces us to a “space” made of grains, a “time” which is the result of our ignorance, to hot black holes and how to think about the beginning of the universe. But he also discusses the value, the risks, and the fascination of this quest. Science, for Rovelli, is a continuous exploration of new ways of thinking the world, the desire of looking “beyond the hill” and seeing the world always with new eyes, the choice of never giving up dreams.

Quantum gravity poses the problem of merging quantum mechanics and general relativity, the two great conceptual revolutions in the physics of the twentieth century. The loop and spinfoam approach, presented in this book, is one of the leading research programs in the field. The first part of the book discusses the reformulation of the basis of classical and quantum Hamiltonian physics required by general relativity. The second part covers the basic technical research directions. Appendices include a detailed history of the subject of quantum gravity, hard-to-find mathematical material, and a discussion of some philosophical issues raised by the subject. This fascinating text is ideal for graduate students entering the field, as well as researchers already working in quantum gravity. It will also appeal to philosophers and other scholars interested in the nature of space and time.

Please Note That The Following Individual Books As Per Original ISBN and Cover Image In this Listing shall be Dispatched Collectively: Carlo Rovelli Collection 3 Books Set: Reality Is Not What It Seems: Do space and time truly exist? What is reality made of? Can we understand its deep texture?Scientist Carlo Rovelli has spent his whole life exploring these questions and pushing the boundaries of what we know. In this mind-expanding book, he shows how our understanding of reality has changed throughout centuries, from Democritus to loop quantum gravity. The Order of Time: Time is a mystery that does not cease to puzzle us. Philosophers, artists and poets have long explored its meaning while scientists have found that its structure is different from the simple intuition we have of it. From Boltzmann to quantum theory, from Einstein to loop quantum gravity, our understanding of time has been undergoing radical transformations. Time flows at a different speed in different places, the past and the future differ far less than we might think, and the very notion of the present evaporates in the vast universe. Seven Brief Lessons on Physics: These seven short lessons guide us, with simplicity and clarity, through the scientific revolution that shook physics in the twentieth century and still continues to shake us today. In this mind-bending overview of modern physics, Carlo Rovelli explains Einstein's theory of general relativity, quantum mechanics, black holes, the complex architecture of the universe, elementary particles, gravity, and the nature of the mind. Not since Richard Feynman's celebrated Six Easy Pieces has physics been so vividly, intelligently and entertainingly revealed.

In this short book, renowned theoretical physicist and author Carlo Rovelli gives a straightforward introduction to Einstein's General Relativity, our current theory of gravitation. Focusing on conceptual clarity, he derives all the basic results in the simplest way, taking care to explain the physical, philosophical and mathematical ideas at the heart of "the most beautiful of all scientific theories". Some of the main applications of General Relativity are also explored, for example, black holes, gravitational waves and cosmology, and the book concludes with a brief introduction to quantum gravity. Written by an author well known for the clarity of his presentation of scientific ideas, this concise book will appeal to university students looking to improve their understanding of the principal concepts, as well as science-literate readers who are curious about the real theory of General Relativity, at a level beyond a popular science treatment.

La scienza del XX secolo ha modificato per sempre la nostra comprensione della realtà, anche se siamo ben lontani dal poter affermare che questa realtà abbia un senso (forse non accadrà mai). Eppure, è grazie alla meccanica quantistica che il pensiero può dirsi per la prima volta libero di percorrere strade veramente ignote. A coltivare quello shock permanente, fatto di «stupore e vertigine», è Carlo Rovelli che, dalle "Sette brevi lezioni di fisica", con leggerezza si muove fra gli abissi speculativi della relatività quantistica, senza paura di toccarne il fondo – anche perché quel fondo, secondo lui, non esiste. «Elettroni e mente, sassi e leggi, giudizi e galassie non sono di natura essenzialmente diversa gli uni dagli altri. Sono nozioni che si illuminano a vicenda». Di questo continuo gioco di specchi è fatto il mondo, e per comprenderlo in tutta la sua complessità, per vederne la coerenza e «sentire che è la nostra casa», scrive Rovelli, bisogna fare un salto ulteriore e accogliere l’incertezza che è al cuore della conoscenza, quella che porta all’«eguaglianza di tutte le cose». Come il personaggio di un racconto del Zhuangzi – uno dei grandi libri dell’antichità – che dopo aver sognato di essere una farfalla «svolazzante e soddisfatta della sua sorte» non sa più se è stato lui a sognare la farfalla o è la farfalla a sognare lui.

Quantum gravity is among the most fascinating problems in physics. It modifies our understanding of time, space and matter. The recent development of the loop approach has allowed us to explore domains ranging from black hole thermodynamics to the early Universe. This book provides readers with a simple introduction to loop quantum gravity, centred on its covariant approach. It focuses on the physical and conceptual aspects of the problem and includes the background material needed to enter this lively domain of research, making it ideal for researchers and graduate students. Topics covered include quanta of space; classical and quantum physics without time; tetrad formalism; Holst action; lattice QCD; Regge calculus; ADM and Ashtekar variables; Ponzano-Regge and Turaev-Viro amplitudes; kinematics and dynamics of 4D Lorentzian quantum gravity; spectrum of area and volume; coherent states; classical limit; matter couplings; graviton propagator; spinfoam cosmology and black hole thermodynamics.Available for free download from http://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~rovelli/I...

Zhuangzi e Hui Shi passeggiavano sul ponte sopra il fiume Hao. Zhuangzi osservò: «Quei pesciolini che si aggirano rilassati e senza fretta, sono pesci felici!». Al che, Hui Shi obiettò: «Tu non sei un pesce; come fai a sapere come sta un pesce?». «Quando hai detto “come fai a sapere come sta un pesce?”, sapevi che lo sapevo. Lo sapevo, qui, sopra il fiume Hao.»Il dialogo che apre e dà il titolo a questo libro proviene da uno dei grandi testi dell’umanità, lo Zhuangzi, l’opera del «Maestro Zhuang», figura centrale del taoismo. La sua forza sta «nella capacità di mettere in dubbio ciò che appare ovvio, ribaltare punti di vista e aprire prospettive». Anche Keplero, per «convincere un’umanità esterrefatta che la Terra non è il centro del cosmo e gira velocemente su sé stessa», procede a un ribaltamento di nel suo Somnium, racconta di un islandese e della madre, portati sulla Luna dal «più mite e innocuo dei demoni», che osservano la Terra, il Sole e il cosmo da un corpo celeste in movimento; e mentre leggiamo ciò che descrivono ci rendiamo conto che anche noi, sulla Terra, stiamo osservando l’universo da un corpo in movimento...«Cambiare punto di vista, cambiare prospettiva»: è questo l’esercizio intellettuale, morale e civile che Carlo Rovelli, dopo il grande successo di Ci sono luoghi al mondo dove più delle regole è importante la gentilezza, propone nel suo nuovo libro, una raccolta degli articoli scritti negli ultimi anni. È un viaggio affascinante da Saffo e Aristotele a Heidegger, dal cosmo di Brunetto Latini e Dante a quello di Galileo, tra storia della scienza e filosofia, musica e cinema, ricordi personali e battaglie ideali, pacifismo e guerra alle diseguaglianze. Contro pigrizia e ipocrisia.

Sono gli anni ribelli della giovinezza di una generazione che vuole esplorare tutto e rifiuta ogni imposizione di normalità. Cosa succede quando Francesca entra in una crisi esistenziale e si ritrova in un reparto psichiatrico?Una storia d’amore bruciante, una storia di generosità e amicizia che non ammette discussione, un affetto profondo che porta a un coraggio sconsiderato. Affetti e ideali politici si intrecciano. Animati da un senso di giustizia assoluto, insofferenti alle regole, credendo in un mondo migliore, Carlo, Massimo, Giorgia e Francesca attraversano dolore, incertezza, sconforto, ma non hanno paura e non si tirano indietro davanti a quella che il mondo chiama follia.Sullo sfondo del mondo in rapido cambiamento culturale degli anni settanta, dove tutti i ruoli e le certezze vengono messi in discussione, e dove la legge Basaglia ha appena permesso di aprire le porte dei manicomi, si dipana questa testimonianza intima di una breve e intensa avventura, che lascerà un segno profondo su di loro e la loro profonda amicizia.La voce di Francesca da ragazza, attiva nel movimento politico e femminista, è una straordinaria testimonianza dall’interno e in prima persona di un percorso al di là di quella che è chiamata normalità. Ci offre uno sguardo di saggezza e un insegnamento prezioso, oggi forse più che mai, sull’umanità e sul valore che anima ogni diversità, anche la più radicale.“Ricordo una passeggiata nel bosco senza parlare troppo, tenendoci per mano, senza altro dire, con la leggerezza del tempo senza tempo e dell’aria fresca, e la consapevolezza che avremmo potuto cominciare a pensare al futuro. Ognuno quel futuro che riusciva a vedere, comunque futuro.”Il racconto di una generazione che si è ribellata alle tradizionali strutture del potere e all’imposizione della normalità, fino a mettere in dubbio la definizione di salute e malattia mentale.

Esprit libre, scientifique de renom, curieux de philosophie et d’humanités, Carlo Rovelli est aussi un formidable conteur. Sa curiosité l’amène à s’interroger sur le monde qui nous entoure, sur la nature du temps qui passe, et jusqu’aux grandes questions philosophiques aux réponses incertaines.Il rassemble ses réflexions dans ces Écrits vagabonds, un recueil de textes accessibles, composés au long cours, qui va des trous noirs à la Lolita de Nabokov, du LSD au plaisir de voyager en Afrique, de l’athéisme à l’alchimie de Newton, de la philosophie analytique aux erreurs d’Einstein.Dans ce journal de bord d’une intelligence toujours en mouvement, le lecteur fera l’expérience d’une pensée qui s’intéresse à tout, subtile, profondément contemporaine. Il rencontrera un esprit en quête continuelle d’une cohérence où science, littérature et philosophie dialoguent harmonieusement.Un précipité de connaissance et d’inventivité.

Des visions du cosmos dans la Grèce ancienne aux théories récentes sur la gravité quantique, Carlo Rovelli explore les métamorphoses de la notion d'espace et de temps. Une approche lumineuse de l'histoire des sciences par le biais de ces "coordonnées fondamentales de notre description du monde". Au terme de ce voyage, qui fait la part belle aux recherches actuelles, se dessine un Univers fascinant fait de " grains d'espace", où le temps pourrait n'être qu'un effet de notre ignorance des lois du monde.

Life and Time are very closely linked, because life needs the patience of eons to emerge and evolve, and also due to the precision timing of neural networks in the perception of the world, encoding information, and performing actions. A dozen renowned biologists and neuroscientists collaborate in this volume to explore the various facets of timing in the living world. The temporal programming of the activity of the genetic code controls the essential mechanisms of individual development from zygote to adult, while evolution uses the succession of generations to accomplish its work. For its part, the brain accomplishes the miracle of justifying presentism and reconstructing the continuity of present time from the fragmented data accessible to the senses, as well as measuring durations and dating events. To this end, the brain uses a multilevel temporal coding to transport and decode sensory information and prepare motor responses. It is only gradually that we have discovered the temporal precision of the mechanisms involved, of the order of a few milliseconds or less, for the adjustment of neural networks, or the synaptic plasticity used for memory formation. Today, the perfection of natural neural networks, the energy saving use of spikes of electrical impulses to categorize the sensory environment and to guess its probable future is an example to the modelers and engineers of artificial intelligence. Researchers and people with academic or teaching professions in Biology (particularly Neuroscience, Genetics, Evolution), or Philosophy of Science.

Quantum gravity poses the problem of merging quantum mechanics and general relativity, the two great conceptual revolutions in the physics of the twentieth century. The loop and spinfoam approach, presented in this book, is one of the leading research programs in the field. The first part of the book discusses the reformulation of the basis of classical and quantum Hamiltonian physics required by general relativity. The second part covers the basic technical research directions. Appendices include a detailed history of the subject of quantum gravity, hard-to-find mathematical material, and a discussion of some philosophical issues raised by the subject. This fascinating text is ideal for graduate students entering the field, as well as researchers already working in quantum gravity. It will also appeal to philosophers and other scholars interested in the nature of space and time.

Bất chấp sự quen thuộc và vĩnh hằng, thời gian vẫn là một ẩn số không ngừng đánh đố chúng ta. Các triết gia, nghệ sĩ và nhà thơ từ lâu đã khám phá ý nghĩa của nó, trong khi các nhà khoa học nhận thấy rằng cấu trúc của thời gian khác với trực giác đơn giản mà chúng ta có. Từ Boltzmann đến lý thuyết lượng tử, từ Einstein đến hấp dẫn lượng tử vòng, sự hiểu biết của chúng ta về thời gian đã trải qua những biến đổi căn bản. Và với Trật tự thời Từ nguồn gốc vũ trụ, số phận các hố đen đến bản chất của ý thức, Carlo Rovelli đưa chúng ta vào câu chuyện đầy mê hoặc khám phá bản chất và ý nghĩa của thời gian. Carlo Rovelli là một nhà vật lý lý thuyết người Ý, có nhiều cống hiến quan trọng cho nghiên cứu bản chất vật lý của không gian và thời gian. Cùng với Bảy bài học vật lý hay nhất, Trật tự thời gian là một trong những cuốn sách thuộc top bán chạy nhất thế giới và đã được dịch ra hơn 40 ngôn ngữ khác nhau. Tờ The Washington Post nhận xé “Không ai viết về vũ trụ như nhà vật lý lý thuyết Carlo Rovelli… Câu chuyện mới về thời gian này đầy duyên dáng và sáng rõ, cho dù ông đang trình bày về những sự thật hay chìm đắm trong những suy tưởng lãng mạn-triết học về bản chất của thời gian.”

The present volume of Time and Science series is devoted to Physical Sciences and Cosmology. Today more than ever, the question 'is Time an ontological property, a necessary ingredient for the physical description of the world, or a purely epistemological element, relative to our situation in the world?' worry physicists and cosmologists alike. For many of them, Relativity (and particularly General Relativity), as well as its reconciliation with quantum mechanics in the elaboration of a quantum theory of gravitation, points to a negative answer to the first alternative, and leads them to deny the objective reality of time. For others, the answer is nuanced by the evidence of an emerging temporal property when one climbs the scales of the complexity of systems and/or the applicability of the statistical laws of thermodynamics. But for some, the illusion of the unreality of time comes from certain confusions that they denounce, and plead for the re-establishment of time at the heart of physical theories. Researchers and people with academic or teaching professions in Physics (particularly General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Gravitation, Cosmology), or Philosophy of Science.

Prominent scientists and philosophers of science address contemporary debates on the nature of Time. Their contributions freely discuss its unity and reality, its compatibility with the orders of classical philosophy (present, past and future) and with the disputed idea of free will (Volume 1). They also present a detailed and updated state of the role of Time in the so-called exact biology — or more precisely genetics, evolution, neurosciences, natural and artificial intelligence (Volume 2) , and physics — relativity, quantum mechanics and quantum gravity, and cosmology (Volume 3). Students and highly educated people with concern in scientific culture.

本套装共4册，是意大利理论物理学家，圈量子引力理论的开创者之一，被誉为“让物理变得性感的男人”卡洛·罗韦利所著。分别为《时间的秩序》《七堂极简物理课》《现实不似你所见》和《极简科学起源课》。