Unification of the 4 Forces

Rather than continue in detail about the evolution of String Theory, I will briefly summarize the important advances in math/science that laid the foundation for what is now being referred to as “The Theory of Everything.” Einstein Theory of Relativity explained what gravity (G) actually is and how it can explain everything in the cosmic world. Maxwell unified the laws of electricity and magnetism into four simple equations known as the electromagnetic force (EM). Einstein’s life was spent trying to unite these only known forces at the time into a single equation that would explain all phenomenons from the birth of a star to the splitting of an atom. It was not until the 1920’s that Niel’s Bohr introduced two new forces that would form that basis for quantum mechanics. A strong nuclear force (S) that acted similar to a glue binding protons and neutrons to the nucleus of an atom, and a weak nuclear force (W) responsible for emitting radioactivity, combined to make the four forces that govern the universe. Unfortunately, these forces did not coincide to collectively explain the cosmic world and the subatomic world. The idea of two separate sets of laws governing the same universe did not sit well with physicists and the search for unification continued. When studying black holes, astrophysicists needed to explain the phenomenon in which an object is infinitely dense and incredibly small. In order to rationalize the existence of black holes, the math required the existence of all four forces interacting on one another. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that more and more mathematicians jumped on the bandwagon in an attempt to solve this profound puzzle. These brilliant minds contributed piece after piece until we finally have arrived at our current definition of String Theory. For my next post, I will go into what exactly String Theory is and how mathematicians/scientists are attempting to prove it.