When baguette meets coffee
Nature 411, 637 - 638 (2001) © Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
VINCENT DUSASTRE
Vincent Dusastre is an associate editor at Nature.
Entrer en matière: Les atomes expliquent-ils le monde?
[in French] by Pablo Jensen
Seuil: 2001. 247 pp. 19.82 euros
The French term entrer en matière can mean either 'getting into matter' or
'introducing a given topic'. Pablo Jensen - a materials physicist at the
Université Claude Bernard's Laboratoire de Physique des Matériaux in Lyon -
proposes to do both in his book. He aims to take the reader on a journey
into the physics of matter and also to give non-scientists an introduction
to his research discipline.
The basic idea is to address down-to-earth questions about the physical and
chemical principles governing the properties of matter for readers with
minimal scientific knowledge. This refreshing approach is directly inspired
by an initiative, called the 'Cafés des Sciences', which was started in 1997
by scientists at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Lyon,
and now extends to the rest of France. Its aim is to improve the dialogue
between science and society.
Entrer en matière is particularly accessible because its various sections
can be read independently, depending on your mood and your knowledge of the
subject. Jensen lucidly portrays the developments and intellectual
challenges encountered by physicists in their attempts to describe and
explain the complex and diverse behaviour of matter, and the challenges that
remain. And he illustrates his story with practical examples that have
economic, environmental, historical and even artistic applications.
The book starts by posing basic questions about the different states of
matter - solid, liquid and gas - encountered in everyday life. Or, at least,
in the life of a typical French person, for most of these practical
interrogations revolve around what goes on in the kitchen or at the table -
from what happens when a buttered baguette is dipped into coffee to the
structure of meringue. It is not surprising that the cultural obsession with
matters culinary has recently resulted in the creation of a research
laboratory, at the Collège de France in Paris, dedicated to 'molecular
gastronomy'.
Jensen next explains how physicists have tried, with varying degrees of
success, to explain the intriguing behaviour of everyday items by
'reconstructing' them from their basic components (the atoms). Toothpaste,
water, glass and chocolate all undergo complex and schizophrenic
transformations - oscillating between one state and another - depending on
external conditions. And Jensen shows how the explanations physicists came
up with have had a profound philosophical influence on our current view of
matter.
Even today, one aspect of the philosophical debate is whether this
'reductionist' idea of matter is needed to understand the everyday world.
Jensen's view is that the fundamental laws governing the interaction between
particles at the most intimate level (inside atoms) are not necessarily
relevant when explaining the macroscopic world. And he rightly argues that,
for any specific example, each level of complexity should be treated
separately - for instance, we should not systematically try to explain the
macroscopic properties of a material in terms of its quantum mechanics.
Although certainly logical in the physical sense, such controversial ideas
are not particularly constructive - and are probably not in line with the
open spirit of the Cafés des Sciences. They will surely raise a few
eyebrows, especially among the particle-physics community.
Jensen then goes on to describe the tricks and tools that physicists use to
infer the macroscopic behaviour of a physical system from the supposedly
well-known microscopic behaviour of its components. And he gives everyday
examples of the physical properties (mechanical, optical, electrical) shared
by all materials. He also shows how certain classes of familiar materials -
such as steel, plastics, foams and adhesives - have influenced the
development of materials science and puts current research interests in
context.
The final part of the book, which I found by far the most entertaining and
instructive, offers a superb guide to what the author and his fellow
physicists actually get up to in their mysterious laboratories. It reveals
physicists as normal human beings, and explains why their search to
understand matter makes them hide away from the outside world with their
sophisticated and expensive pieces of equipment. To the general public,
physicists can seem like alien beings, wasting extravagant amounts of
taxpayers' money on useless experiments. This part of Entrer en matière
should make such readers think again.
For a book that aspires to familiarize the person in the street with the
latest developments in science, it's a pity the presentation is so dull -
the only colour pictures are on the cover. This may make it less attractive
to the wider audience that its accessible writing deserves.
I warmly recommend Entrer en matière to anyone (but especially physicists)
even remotely interested in discovering more about matter. The book would
serve as a perfect introduction to a first-year physics course - especially
in French universities, where the material covered is more often about
theory than the understanding of physical concepts. I only wish that such a
book had been available in my student days.
I hope that this enlightening book, written by someone with such enthusiasm
for communicating his knowledge, will be translated into other languages. It
could then fulfil its ultimate aim of promoting interaction, communication
and debate between scientists and the rest of the world.
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