I made a bet with Hawking, and guess what, he won...

By Wu Yishan

Kip Thorne, retired theoretical physics professor at the California Institute of Technology, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017. In 1975, at the age of 35, Thorne made a bet with British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who was 33 at the time, that the Cygnus X-1 was not a black hole. The loser would have to subscribe the other for a year of "Zangchun Ge" magazine. As it turned out, the Cygnus X-1 was indeed not a black hole, and Hawking lost.

In October 2023, at the age of 83, Thorne co-authored a book titled "The Warped Side of Our Universe: An Odyssey through Black Holes, Wormholes, Time Travel, and Gravitational Waves" with American artist and Chapman University's Department of Art Director Lia Halloran. The book was published by Liveright. It includes Thorne's popular science articles, Halloran's paintings, and Thorne's poems.

Halloran's first job during high school was at the world-renowned science museum, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, which led to her love for science. In 1999, she received a Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking and Painting from Yale University. She often incorporates scientific concepts into her artwork.

It can be said that the two of them have been brewing this new book for almost 20 years. Many years ago, Thorne and Halloran attempted to collaborate on a magazine article that would explore the strange, twisted spacetime inside and around black holes. Although that article was not published, it laid the seeds for the birth of this book.

The title of the book, "The Warped Side of Our Universe," refers to the objects and phenomena in the warped spacetime, including colliding black holes and neutron stars, collapsed wormholes, and the possibilities of time travel with a time machine. The book vividly depicts the wonders and wildness of the warped side of the universe.

Through poetic language and over 100 paintings depicting otherworldly scenes, the book explains Thorne and his colleagues' discoveries and conjectures in astrophysics, as well as raises several major questions: How did the universe begin? Is time travel possible? What kind of strange or bizarre phenomena exist on the warped side of the universe?

The December 19, 2023 issue of the journal "Nature" interviewed the two authors about this book. They both said that the process of collaborating on this book was a process of mutual learning and deepening understanding.

For example, Thorne asked, "How should the structure of a singularity be reflected? People always depict singularities as individual points, but that fails to capture the nature of singularities that mathematics is trying to convey. The laws of physics indicate that as people approach a singularity, matter is stretched and compressed in a completely chaotic manner. How can this be described?"

Halloran depicted the singularity described by Thorne as something with geometric shapes, surprise, and chaos. After she finished her painting and looked at it, she had a clearer understanding of what Thorne was talking about - it was truly unexpected. The concept of singularities puzzled her as an artist and fascinated her. Terms like "infinite density" and "infinite mass" gave her a headache.

"Our understanding of the world drives my daily creativity. I am still taking physics and astronomy courses. I never intended to become a scientist, but I appreciate the way in which science inspires people to constantly confront challenges," Halloran said.

The reporter asked Thorne, "Why combine poetry with illustrations?"

Thorne replied, "Poetry forces the mind to focus. If it were prose, the author would describe many details and lose focus. Poetry extracts the essence of what is happening and conveys it in an almost instinctive way. This affects the reader's and my own perception."

Thorne also mentioned that when he was a child, he used to deliver newspapers along a fixed route every day. To pass the time, he recited poetry as he walked. He was particularly moved by the works of Canadian poet Robert Service (1874-1958), especially the ballad "The Cremation of Sam McGee," with its humor and rhythm. After all these years, Thorne can still recite this poem. The poems illustrated in this book follow the rhythm of that poem.

Thorne recalled that in the early stages of his career, he co-wrote a textbook called "Gravitation" (published in 1973) with American physicists Charles Misner (1932-2023) and John Wheeler (1911-2008). This textbook introduced several new elements: diagrams, side notes, different font sizes, and other features. Thorne said, "I am proud to have introduced new ways of science communication."

Fifty years later, Thorne and Halloran's collaboration has once again brought new methods of science communication. Thorne said that combining painting with poetry introduces different modes of communication in different mediums, conveying different aspects of science. This kind of method "is something I have never done or seen before."

We should eagerly look forward to such a work of science communication.

"China Science Daily" (2024-01-19 3rd Edition Book Review) Editor | Zhao Lu Layout | Guo Gang Please scan the QR code below for 3 seconds to recognize