The great known unknown
«The erotic link between photons,» «The past surrounds us,» «The wail of man and the end of light,» are some characteristic chapter titles from «The Autobiography of Light.» Viewing them, one wonders whether this is a scientific book or a novel. It is true they have called it a novel of the universe. Only I am not the writer. The writer of the novel of the universe remains unknown, he might not even exist. In the eyes of science, the universe – like a novel – has a beginning and a probable end, it has structure and develops, it holds surprises and reversals. Only its pages never seem to end. I tried to show that light, whose presence has marked all major civilizations and religions, has lead science to major breakthroughs: the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, the distancing of the galaxies, the confirmation that the universe was born as a result of a Big Bang – it even paved the way to understanding and maybe unifying the interactions in the universe. Thus light, this highly familiar but unknown entity, plays the same determinative role in science as it does in art, and in the creation of life. This discovery was exciting to me and gave me a strong incentive to attempt an autobiography of light.
