Is the Universe a Number?

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Original Air Date: 
October 07, 2017

For centuries, mathematicians have been looking for the deep design, the mathematical code to explain everything from microorganisms to spacetime. But it’s a dangerous quest.

We’ll meet a mathematician who got lost in the numerical mysteries of the Kabbalah. And, we’ll discover the underlying structure of the universe through crochet.

 

Crocheting the Unknowable Geometry of Spacetime

Plastic crochet corals from the "Crochet Coral Reef" project by Christine and Margaret Wertheim and the Institute For Figuring.
Articles

What if the geometric structure of the universe has been hidden, for centuries, in crochet? Margaret Wertheim can help you get there with a ball of wool, a crochet hook, and some non-Euclidean geometry.

Going Deep Into the Kabbalah

Torah and jad - exhibits in Big Synagogue Museum, Wlodawa - Poland. (CC BY 2.5)
Audio

The story of one famous mathematician’s obsession with the ancient and mystical and numerical world of the Kabbalah, from Shlomo Maital of the podcast "Israel Story."

A Physicist Tries To Answer The "Beautiful Question"

The beauty of nature.
Articles

Frank Wilczek is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist at MIT. He's kind of obsessed, in his own way, with understanding the universe. Specifically, he’s interested in what he calls “the beautiful question." Is the universe naturally, inherently beautiful?

Show Details 📻
Airdates
October 07, 2017
May 05, 2018
March 02, 2019
November 14, 2020
September 11, 2021
February 19, 2022
Guests: 

Margaret Wertheim

Physicist, Mathematician, Writer
margaretwertheim.com
twitter.com
crochetcoralreef.org

Shlomo Maital

Economics Professor

Frank Wilczek

Physicist
Categories: 
Religion and Philosophy
Science
Nature
Last modified: 
February 15, 2022