mauitian ([info]mauitian) wrote,
@ 2008-03-18 11:25:00
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Parlo soltanto un piccolo italiano
Italian is really the most beautiful language. And not just because she's talking about me. Now if only I can figure out what she's saying...

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[info]savorie
2008-03-18 07:30 pm UTC (link)
Now if only I can figure out what she's saying...

I had that feeling watching your BIL talk. What I wouldn't do to have even a passing familiarity with your own language!

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[info]mauitian
2008-03-18 07:46 pm UTC (link)
I'm guessing "thirteen years of college" falls in the category of "what you wouldn't do." ;)

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(Anonymous)
2008-03-18 09:49 pm UTC (link)
meh. For some of us, even thirteen years of college wouldn't help.

In any case, she seems to be saying nice things about you, but I'm not sure if that's just because your family is originally from Italy.

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[info]savorie
2008-03-18 11:09 pm UTC (link)
Well, that's why "passing familiarity" is what I was realistically pining for. ;-)

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[info]resipisco
2008-03-19 03:53 am UTC (link)
Italian is like string theory, it sounds beautiful, but when you realize what's being said, it's not very poetic after all.

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[info]mathemajician
2008-03-19 09:45 pm UTC (link)
Um, I understood most of that. Condensed version:

That you're American of Italian origins, that you have a new an very elegant theory of everything, that there are currently two main theories to describe the universe, quantum theory for things on the scale of the atom and relativity for things on a universal scale, and now you have a theory with a geometric structure similar to that of a crystal, that in your moving graph thing that the little shapes represent the elementary particles, for example the yellow triangles are electrons, then about the 4 forces, then something about the star shape representing some new phenomenon that would need to be experimentally verified, then more about how all the forces are represented here in the graph.

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[info]mauitian
2008-03-19 10:17 pm UTC (link)
Grazi!

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Crazy that they didn't translate it for you!
(Anonymous)
2008-04-09 05:03 pm UTC (link)
Hello,

here's the transcription translated:

"Would you believe a scientist that, for living, teaches surf in the summer and snowboard in the winter? That studies physics in his spare time and up to some months ago was practically a stranger? (<--don't know how to translate, means not famous) Never trust the appearances! A. Garrett Lisi is an American physicist of Italian origins, who created a theory which would explain the whole cosmos (<--in Italian "cosmo" has a wider sense), from atoms to galaxies, a very elegant theory, which fascinates the scientists all over the world. The theory of "everything" (<- "whole","all") is the Holy Grail of physics, because nowadays there are two different theories to explain the cosmos: quantum mechanics for atoms, and relativity which explain the structure of universe, but we don't have a unique theory that is able to explain both of them.
At the very core of the theory of A. Garrett Lisi there is a geometrical figure similar to a complex crystal, which contains in itself all the known elementar particles, and summarize in itself the very structure of reality, and with which is theoretically possible to describe the entire universe, from atoms to stars.
To visualize this very abstract crystal, and so to study the particles and their interactions, we can imagine to project the image on a plan. In this way we have a figure which is composed of different coloured dots, which are positioned in a geometrical relation one to the other. The different dots represent the different elementar particles: the yellow triangles are the electrons, whereas the green, red and blue triangles are the different types of quark. The circles represent the particles which transmit the four forces of nature: gravity, electromagnetism, and weak and strong nuclear forces. This star-shaped geometry underlines a new phenomenon, which is still to verify experimentally, a phenomenon which until now no theory has explained: the relations between the gravity (responsible for weight), the electromagnetic forces and the weak nuclear force (responsible for the radioactivity). Rotating the crystal we can make the electrons go towards the centre, while the different types of quark go towards other points to the sides. We have in this way an exagonal structure which represents the strong nuclear force, the one responsible for the energy and for nuclear explosions. All the four forces of nature and all the elementar particles are represented in this geometrical structure. Continuing the rotation we arrive at the starting point again."

More or less. But I am Italian!
One question in exchange: where I can find more about your theory? I study Philosophy so I am not a great fan of Physics (and also, so ignorant about it!), but this looks like having enormous consequences on the "way we look at the world", not even thinking about olistic theories like some kind of religion.
Good luck :)

Livia

livializ at yahoo dot it

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Re: Crazy that they didn't translate it for you!
[info]mauitian
2008-04-09 08:09 pm UTC (link)
Hi Livia, thanks for translating!

The best place to read about it, is, well, the paper itself:

http://arxiv.org/abs/0711.0770

other than that, I collected my descriptions for journalists here at FQXi:

http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/107

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