Fascinated by the Theory of Everything: The Later Years of Great Scientists

There is a romantic notion called the "Theory of Everything," which seeks to explain all phenomena in the universe with a single theory.

I have touched upon one candidate for this, "String Theory," briefly in the past.

However, there is a risk of getting lost in a labyrinth if you dive into it. Historically, Einstein was one such person, and he literally pursued it until his death.

In the article below, I introduce someone who was fascinated by such a Theory of Everything and spent his later years in obscurity.

One such person is Arthur Eddington who became an important ally to Einstein.

Since I have mentioned him before, I will include a past post.

After contributing to the proof of the General Theory of Relativity, he also made a name for himself in stellar research.
However, in his later years, he became immersed in research he called "Fundamental Theory," which was close to a "Theory of Everything."

Roughly speaking, it is research suggesting that the ratios between natural constants are not coincidental, but rather that hidden laws are lurking within them.

Such convictions are also called "numerology" and are often seen in things like fortune-telling. It is what you might call forced connections based on coincidence.

The decisive point for this is the episode involving the fine-structure constant (a physical constant representing the strength of electromagnetic interaction). The following is borrowed from Wiki.

At the time, the measurement result for this value was very close to 1/136, and Eddington insisted that this value should be exactly 1/136.
Later, as observational technology advanced and measurement results became closer to 1/137, Eddington changed his reasoning and began to insist that the fine-structure constant should be exactly 1/137.
This value of 1/137 is called the "Eddington number," and it is said that by this time, many researchers stopped taking his ideas seriously.
By the way, the current measured value of the fine-structure constant is 1/137.035 999 76(50).

Hearing this episode reminded me of Dirac, whom even Einstein called a genius. He also conducted similar research on natural constants in his later years. I will include a past post.

In short, it is the idea that the ratios of natural constants are all the same and have meaning.
While some researchers believe in this, they are definitely in the minority.

The three people I have featured this time had such great peaks in their careers that their later years inevitably appear disappointing.

However, I honestly think that the fact they took on such ambitious challenges until the very end is wonderful.

There are quite a few great scientists who become immersed in unexpected research themes in their later years, so I would like to introduce more of them again.