Tullio Regge

Tullio Eugenio Regge (1931-2014), Italian theoritical physicist and mathematician.

Quotes of Tullio Regge

I am convinced that the race backwards in space and time, to the origins of the Big Bang and the elementary structure of matter, is infinite; logically and spatially inaccessible. I therefore believe that the quarks that make up electrons and protons are not the most elementary particles at all; similarly, there is no single chain of events that led from the Big Bang to us, but an infinity of equally plausible possibilities. Mine is still a faith, because I have no proof of anything.
- Sono convinto che la corsa all'indietro nello spazio e nel tempo, alle origini del Big Bang e alla struttura elementare della materia, sia infinita; logicamente e spazialmente inaccessibile. Credo perciò che i quark che compongono elettroni e protoni non siano affatto le particelle più elementari; allo stesso modo, non c'è una catena di eventi univoca che ha portato dal Big Bang a noi, ma un'infinità di possibilità altrettanto plausibili. La mia è comunque una fede, perché non ho prove di nulla.
  - As quoted in Lara Reale, Silvia Artana, La teoria delle stringhe, secondo Tullio Regge? "Si sta colando a picco", torinoscienza.it, 22 January 2008 (in Italian)

Quotes derived from Tullio Regge, Infinito Viaggio ai limiti dell'universo, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milano, 1995. ISBN 88-04-35976-5.

Not even mathematics can be considered as a closed and complete system of axioms and theorems. The mathematical world is inexhaustible, no finite set of postulates and deductions will ever be able to give us the answer to all questions. Gödel's theorem, whose statement dates back to about half a century ago, brutally put an end to all attempts to condense mathematics into a list of axioms from which the truth or falsity of each of its assertions should follow. If the same mathematical language that physics uses to describe the world remains intrinsically incomplete, it is not reasonable to expect that the universe can be describable starting from a finite set of natural laws. The incompleteness of mathematics and consequently that of physics is repugnant to many, but it must be said that for the exact sciences, Gödel's theorem is by no means a defeat: on the contrary, it provides us with an intellectual push towards ever broader and more fruitful developments.
- Ch. 2, p. 18.

Man is a product of Darwinian evolution. His mental structure and logical categories have been profoundly influenced by the struggle for survival in the nature in which he evolved. In particular, we know in greater detail and intuitively those natural laws and mathematical rules that allow us to survive. This basic approach imposes on us a substantially anthropomorphic vision of the world around us.
- Ch. 4, p. 23

As far as we know, entropy increases throughout the portion of the universe observable from Earth. It does not seem probable to us, but in any case nothing excludes, that beyond the particle horizon which marks the maximum limit of observations there exist regions in which the arrow of time is reversed compared to ours and in which entropy decreases. I dare not think of the theoretical and observational complications that would arise if the matter contained in one of these anomalous regions began to interact with ours.
- Ch. 8, p. 52

I have absolutely no proof, but I believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life somewhere in the cosmos. I think it would be an unjustifiable waste to create an endless and varied universe like ours that had terrestrial life as its sole final result.
- Ch. 9, p. 68

Fermi was somewhat skeptical about the possibility of an extraterrestrial civilization so technologically advanced that it could freely move between the stars. One of his favorite arguments was that such a civilization would be able to colonize the entire Galaxy in less than 300 million years, a short time compared to its age of about 15 billion years. That civilization should have already reached Earth, leaving appreciable traces. But since these traces were not found, Fermi came to the conclusion that the hypothetical civilization does not exist.
- Ch. 9, p. 68

The Bible and Eastern religions have always attracted people of various backgrounds who have wanted to recognize extraordinary anticipations of cosmology and atomic physics in sacred texts. I remain deeply skeptical on this point.
- Ch. 38, p. 280

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