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TRUTH AND BEAUTY: AESTHETICS AND MOTIVATIONS IN SCIENCE by S. Chandrasekhar. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, II., U.S.A., 1987.170 pp. Trade, $23.95. ISBN: 0-226-10086-3. Reviewed Uy Elmer Duncan, Baylor University , Department ofPhilosophy, Waco, 7X, U.S.A. The author of this book is a distinguished , Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist . It is not surprising, therefore , that there is much in his work that the nonscientist will not understand . There are pages full of mathematical formulas illustrating the theory of black holes and other astrophysical phenomena. Aside from this, Chandrasekhar also displays an impressive depth of knowledge of the arts, especially poetry and drama. The seven lectures in the book date from 1946 to the present and were not written originally for this volume. There is some unavoidable repetition, but the volume reads well. Chandrasekhar states in the beginning that the lectures are concerned with two main themes. First, one might suppose that the difference between the artist and the scientist is that the artist seeks beauty, while the scientist seeks truth. A principal argument of this book is that this is not the case. For example, the author notes (p. 148) that the "general theory of relativity has often been described as an extremely beautiful theory" and has been "compared to a work of art". Another scientist is quoted who speaks of the "great mathematical beauty" of the theory. Scientists do seek beauty, and find it, in their theories and complicated mathematical formulas. The second theme of the lectures concerns an unsolved puzzle. Chandrasekhar tells the story of Beethoven who, according to a biographer, said at the age of 47, "Now, 1 know how to compose" (p. 48). Chandrasekhar comments, "I do not believe that there has been any scientist, past forty, who could have said, 'Now, I know how to do research n,. Of course, there are notable exceptions, but artists tend to go through a definite process of maturity; scientists do not. That is, the young novelist will show promise in his first book; he will 452 Current Literature show greater skill in middle age, and-if he is fortunate enough to have a long and healthy old age-his later work will be his best. Science does not seem to work that way. Scientists tend to do their best work when young. Many examples are given. James Clerk Maxwell, the great nineteenth-eentury physicist, did his best work between the ages of 30 and 35. Maxwell died young, at the age of 48, but he never again did work of the quality of the contributions he made in his early thirties. Why this difference between scientists and artists? The author has no answer; perhaps there is none. Scientists usually appear to us only as names, theories and mathematical formulas. One of the best features of this book is that some of the major twentieth-eentury scientists are presented as people. The reader is told about Sir Arthur Eddington and his Quaker beliefs, which led him to be a conscientious objector during World War I, and about his love of cycling tours. The technical work of Karl Schwarzchild is discussed and the reader is also told that Schwarzchild served in the German Army in the Eastern front in 1915. He contracted the fatal disease pemphigus, "and he died on 11 May 1916" (p. 147). It was during those months that he did his best work! Although there is material in this book that nonscientists cannot understand , the book can be read with profit by scientist and nonscientist alike. ROT GELB BLAu. DIE PRIMARFARBEN IN DER KUNST DES 20. JAHRHUNDERTS by Bernhard Burgi, ed. Hatje, Stuttgart , West Germany, 1988. 192 pp., iIIus. Reviewed Uy RudolfArnheim, 1133 South Seventh St., Ann Arbor, MI48103, U.S.A. At an earlier occasion (Leonardo 20, No.2) 1 have commented on the persistent problem of the primary colors in painting. While our pictorial tradition , ever since Francois d'Aguilon published his treatise on optics in 1613, has settled on the triad red, yellow , and blue as the basis of color composition, other groups of fundamental colors have been proposed off and on since the Renaissance, for...

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