Since even before Einstein, physicists have sought a theory of everything to explain the Universe. Can positive geometry lead us there?
When most scientists talk about progress in their field, they speak about small, incremental changes that slightly, gradually improve our understanding of how the Universe works. But when we think about the biggest advances in scientific history, they often occur in revolutionary leaps, completely overthrowing our previously held views of how the Universe works. In particular, revolutions like Special Relativity and General Relativity, quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, and the Big Bang and cosmic inflation completely overthrew our prior picture of how things actually behave. As the “holy grail” of physics, many have long sought a Theory of Everything, seeking to explain every particle, phenomenon, and interaction in all the Universe within a single framework, and possibly even with a single equation.
Many attempts have famously been made in the past. Theodor Kaluza added extra dimensions, attempting to unify gravity with electromagnetism. Bryce DeWitt and John Wheeler pioneered approaches to a quantum theory of gravity. A slate of physicists, including Howard Georgi and…
