Recent headlines declare, "Hawking recants his black hole theory." Renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking recently announced in a research conference at Dublin, Ireland that he had reworked his 1975 theory of black holes, and no longer felt that information is destroyed along with matter and light. He had been at odds with his fellow physicists on this point because the idea of the destruction of information was contrary to the fundamental tenets of physics. Since Hawking proposed his theory, mainstream physics has evolved and moved in a different direction. The idea that information is always preserved has gained credence from recent results in what is called 'string theory,' the hot area of research that hopes to produce a theory of everything that would explain all the forces of nature.
Now, physicists of the stature of Hawking do not easily recant on a theory that they have held for thirty years. So what is this 'string theory' that caused him and other physicists to alter their picture of the universe? Einstein's dream in later life was to formulate a mathematical equation that would unite his description of gravity (G) in the General Theory of Relativity with Maxwell's four equations for electromagnetism (EM). If he was successful, he believed he would know the mind of God. However, he was unsuccessful because G deals with very large masses while EM deals with very small masses. In the 1920's the three forces found in the world of the atom, EM, the strong nuclear force (S), and the weak radioactive force (W) were mathematically codified by Quantum Mechanics. But it was not possible to combine G with these three atomic forces. This has become the "Holy Grail" of modern physics.
In 1970 a long forgotten equation formulated by the Swiss mathematician, Leonhard Euler (1707-1783), called the 'Gamma Function' was rediscovered and revealed the idea that all matter must be composed of tiny vibrating strands of energy called strings. These strings are so small that they cannot be detected nor measured, so there is no way that their existence can be proved or disproved. However, string theorists claim that in their theory they have found gravity on the subatomic level in something they call a 'gravitron' which would be the key to the combining of the four fundamental forces of nature into one elegant formula. This would unite all of nature, from the smallest particles of the atom to the whirling galaxies of space, into one grand cosmic symphony.
Who else but a Creator God could have devised such a cosmos that is vibrating in harmony to His will in "One pulse of harmony and gladness" (GC 678). As man probes ever deeper into nature, looking for the secret of it all, perhaps Einstein was correct when he felt that we are getting close to the mind of God when we discover "the theory of everything."
