Constants-of-nature Quote by John D. Barrow

“Itwas one time when people thought the value of the fine structure constant wasimportant. Now of course it's still important, of course, as a…

— Steven Weinberg

It was one time when people thought the value of the fine structure constant was important. Now of course it's still important, of course,…

— Steven Weinberg

“The theoretical determination of the fine structure constant is certainly the most important of the unsolved problems of modern physics.”

— Wolfgang Pauli

“The fine-structure constant is ubiquitous throughout physics. I’ve already noted its connection to the electromagnetic interaction. In atomic physics, the binding energy, fine-structure splitting,…

— Gerald Gabrielse

“While twentieth-century physicists were not able to identify any convincing mathematical constants underlying the fine structure, partly because such thinking has normally not been…

— Carl Johan Calleman

“Let us begin with the fine-structure constant. ... The fine-structure constant is really the ratio of two natural units or atoms of action. ...…

— Arthur Stanley Eddington

“We can measure the fine structure constant with very great precision, but so far none of our theories has provided an explanation of its…

— John D. Barrow

“The fine-structure constant derives its name from its origin. It first appeared in Sommerfeld's work to explain the fine details of the hydrogen spectrum.…

— John S. Rigden

“Even a good, inveterate atheist like physicist Richard Feynman once said of the fine structure constant, “All good theoretical physicists put this number up…

— Sam Kean

If alpha [the fine-structure constant] were bigger than it really is, we should not be able to distinguish matter from ether [the vacuum, nothingness],…

— Max Born

“... it should be remembered that the atomicity of electric charge has already found its expression in the specific numerical value of the fine…

— Wolfgang Pauli

If anything runs deeper than a mathematician’s love of variables, it’s a scientist’s love of constants.

— Sam Kean