The Hindu Business Line : Established theories not sacrosanct for this mathematician

For Sir Roger Penrose, renowned mathematician and physicist, it is a depressing thought that we might be close to the `Theory of Everything' that will explain all the mysteries associated with the universe, down to the minutest detail.

"A final theory, if it comes, must have beauty and simplicity, something I have not yet come across," he said, while delivering the convocation address at the second convocation of the National Institute of Technology here on Saturday.

Hailing from a distinguished family of scientists and mathematicians, Sir Roger had been playing with geometrical objects from the age of ten, said Mr Bikash Sinha, Chairman of the Board of Governors, NIT.

Known for his controversial views on the relation between physics and consciousness, Sir Roger came across as one who did not venerate established ideas. "Even quantum mechanics is a provisional theory, which has to be replaced by a great theory," he said. "This is not just my own contention, but has been said by Einstein, Schrodinger as well as Dirac," he added.

While asking the graduating students to challenge the conceptual basis of established theories, he said his own ideas about the Big Bang, the singularity supposed to mark the beginning of time, has considerably changed.

"The Big Bang, in a certain sense, is not the beginning," he said. "The big final stage may also be the initial stage — when there is only radiation left and the universe loses track of its scale," he said. It has to be mathematically proved though, he added.

Sir Roger, famous for the `Penrose tiling' he discovered, said that there was no clear demarcation between scientific work and fun and said that he often found that it was often easier to explain with simple diagrams what could not be explained by complex calculations.

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