Alan Goodwin - Gravity's Chain

The show moved seamlessly through Galileo, Newton, Faraday and Clerk-Maxwell with music, readings, a laser show and graphics to help explain the development of physics through their works and lives. The climax began in a sea of blue lights.

‘By the end of the nineteenth century it was assumed we had discovered all there was to discover about the natural world.’ Slowly the stage lights and screen dimmed. ‘Many scientists spoke of the end of physics.’ The last light went out and the theatre was in darkness. ‘However, such a prediction could not have been more wrong.’ On screen the familiar face of Albert Einstein appeared.

‘Far from nearing the end, physics was about to embark on its most revolutionary period. Physics would overthrow our accepted concepts of the world and change us in a myriad of ways. The new or modern physics, as it was called, to distinguish it from the classical science of Newton, had at its heart two theories: relativity and the quantum. They both owe their origins to Einstein. He was the mother of relativity in that he gave birth to it, having borrowed some concepts from elsewhere to help him conceive the theory. And he was the father of the quantum in that, although others formulated the theory, he provided essential material for its development. His idea of the photon, or light quanta, was the sperm, if you like, of the quantum theory and his later statistical work the sperm of the later quantum mechanics. And it is with quantum theory and quantum mechanics that we see most clearly how dependent our society is on the practical consequences of modern physics. They’ve directly led to specific new industries, which rely on the science of the theory and on scientists to develop them. The microchip, transistors, lasers—all rely on quantum theory to make them work and they’ve given birth to computers, telecommunications, the global economy and genetics.’ Images of the technology I named flashed on screen at ever-increasing speeds.

‘Let me illustrate my point with one example.’ The stage lights went out and purple laser rays from either side of the stage pierced the sudden dark, hitting angled mirrors. Jean Michel Jarre’s techno music filled the hall as an intricate purple pattern instantly formed across the stage. ‘In 1916 Einstein theorised about the process where excited atoms are triggered into releasing extra energy. What possible use could this have? Well, in the 1960s the laser was invented directly from his work. Today its uses are endless: lasers scan our groceries in the supermarket, run our CDs, create holograms, are used in laser surgery and, most importantly, lie at the heart of fibre optics and hence all modern communications. There would be no Internet without fibre optics, without the laser. So you can see that from a seemingly insignificant idea of Einstein’s, an important part of the framework of modern life is constructed.’ On screen a woman swung on her office chair, then dispersed into a thousand pieces before being sucked into a computer screen down a fibre optic cable and reappearing on a hundred screens in a hundred places.

‘Before Superforce there were four known forces: electromagnetism, the nuclear strong force, the nuclear weak force and gravity. This is where relativity and quantum enter the story again. All these forces except for gravity are explained by quantum theory, but gravity is explained by relativity. Now quantum is lumpy, it’s about energy coming in lumps, but relativity is smooth, continuous. Here is the problem of uniting the four forces, it means uniting quantum and relativity, or in other words the lumpy and the smooth. It’s like mixing sand and water.’

A computer-animated picture of a twisting, changing, and weaving pattern appeared on the screens. ‘We’ve now moulded these ideas. Superforce is what explains everything.’ The pattern formed into the formula of Superforce. As always I turned to admire my masterpiece. Even now, after two years, this assortment of numbers, letters and symbols took my breath away, the formula that had its genesis the day before Caroline killed herself. On cue I turned back to the audience, but suddenly my mind was a blank. There were no words in my memory, just the image of Caroline’s feet, the toes pointed to the ground, the red nail polish the only colour in view, and as I struggled to banish the thought all I could do was follow the slow swing of her jeans-covered legs. How strange that at this moment, on stage, in front of all these people, I should ask myself for the first time why she had done such a thing.

‘This is the heart of spiral field maths and of the deceptive beauty at the heart of Superforce. Look one way and you see quantum theory, look the other and you see relativity—two sides of the same coin, held just long enough by the maths to allow us to see which one we’re looking at. But what does this mean for us?’ I walked across stage, unsteady from my memory of Caroline. ‘Well, ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know. We just can’t tell what may come. So, when you’re asked, “Does this stuff really matter?” you shout, “Of course.” This formula, this force, explains the universe and the world around us. It’s the force that binds our materials together, and if we understand that, imagine what might be possible. Maybe we can manipulate matter itself and change a table into a cow, or dirt into gold. Perhaps we could make new energy and create our own tame black hole. Who knows? What I do know though is that the future is ours. Remember that one message when you leave. Science has made the future ours to mould. We just have to be brave enough to lay our hands on the clay. Thank you and goodnight.’

Applause thundered through the auditorium. I took my bows and left, waving to all parts of the audience. Bebe waited for me with a towel and water and I took the congratulations of those around me as I gulped down the liquid. The happy tempo of ELO blasted from the stage. As ‘Mr Blue Sky’ played, I knew the magical animated tour around a black hole and through the other side where everyday images changed shape, was showing on the stage screen.

Bebe and I relaxed in the changing room after I’d changed from my sweat-soaked clothes and sunk my first post-show drink. That one always tasted good, almost on a par with the first of the day. The adrenalin of the show had shrugged off my earlier gloom. All the lights were on now and I was ready for the party, though there was still some lingering uneasiness at the thought of Caroline’s hanging feet.

‘The world should see you, Jack. You were marvellous out there. I’d like to see Driesler try and do something like that. He’s just a bag of gas.’

‘You know, Bebe, I’ve been pondering our earlier conversation about Mr Driesler. I can’t help but think what a grand coincidence it is that when he publishes his book, I’m stuck down here at the other end of the world, away from all the action.’

‘Conspiracy theorist.’

‘Maybe, but how convenient it is for the company to have me here.’

‘This trip has been planned for months.’

‘And Driesler’s book?’

‘We don’t have any control over that.’

‘Don’t you?’

‘Of course we don’t. Christ, Jack, the company supports you fully, we’ve spent millions…’

‘Bebe, spare me the company bullshit, I know how it works: the king is dead, long live the king. If Taikon think he’s a better bet in the future then I’d be put out to pasture, contract tied and silenced while Frank steps into my fame-sodden shoes. And think how much easier he’d be to manage. Shit, he’d be low maintenance compared to me. I bet he doesn’t have any vices, I bet he’s squeaky clean. The company would love that, wouldn’t they, Bebe? No risk of scandal to dirty the image. What a partnership, and how easy it would be to get me off the scene. I mean, a few kiss-and-tell stories and I’d be in disgrace, I’d be blasted off planet fame with a one-way ticket.’