Physics, Universe, and the Theory of Everything

i wanted to share something that really reflects who i am. i've always been a huge fan of science, especially physics. that passion grew stronger over the years as i never skip a physics related youtube video, especially the ones about universe.

my love for it dates back to middle school, when i attended a school focused on physics and astronomy. from those early years, our teachers introduced us to advanced, university-level theories and concepts. that experience made me passionate about the laws that govern our daily lives and the universe. i found myself constantly wondering: how do things really work? why can't humans fly like birds? how black are black holes? do aliens exist? why does electricity flow the way it does?

among all questions i had, the idea of finding other living, conscious organisms, like aliens, feels the most fascinating yet terrifying to me. but what makes me even more uncomfortable is the opposite possibility: that we might actually be alone in this endlessly expanding universe with around 2 trillion galaxies, each having around 100-400 billion stars like our sun.

one day while scrolling through my youtube feed, i came across dozens of videos about black holes. the professor explaining them did it with such clarity and elegance that it felt impossible not to fall in love with the subject. his name, i later learned, is brian cox, a professor of particle physics at the university of manchester - the same university where i later studied as an exchange student.

in manchester, i even tried to visit his office at the physics building. unfortunately, i couldn't attend his seminars since he was touring in the united states during my semester abroad. to make up for it, i watched nearly every recorded lecture and talk of his on youtube. today, he remains one of the professors i respect the most, and he's a big reason why i chose to dedicate this edition of my series to physics.

while following this curiosity, i picked up stephen hawking's famous book a brief history of time from my university library. in it, i came across something interesting, a theory that humanity—including geniuses like aristotle, plato, copernicus, galileo, newton, einstein, and many other great scientists—has long searched for: a theory that explains everything in the universe. it's called the "theory of everything," and it makes sense if we think about it. if we live in a universe where everything is connected, there should be something that explains it all in physical and mathematical terms.

hawking goes on to explain that humanity has already seen smaller-scale but equally important milestones in this pursuit. twice in history, physics has achieved unification, one of its primary goals. the first was sir isaac newton's unification of gravity and astronomy. the second was james clerk maxwell's unification of electricity and magnetism into electromagnetism.

i strongly believe that if newton and maxwell showed us unification is possible, then the theory of everything is not just a dream, but it's the next horizon humanity must conquer. and for me, that's what makes physics so beautiful: it's not only about solving equations, but about daring to chase the biggest questions of existence.

fun fact: there's actually a movie called the theory of everything, based on the life of stephen hawking, the author of the book i mentioned earlier. definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet.