Higher Dimensions

Abstract

Einstein spent the greater part of his adult life searching for a unified theory — one that would unite gravity with the other forces. At least, that is what he thought he was doing. Since the precise nature of the forces acting at the nuclear level was unknown to him, he could only attempt to unify gravity with electromagnetism. We now understand that the weak and strong forces are as fundamental as electromagnetism, and in the six decades since Einstein’s death, our knowledge of particle physics has mushroomed. With hindsight we can see that Einstein’s quest was doomed. A unified theory of gravity and electromagnetism would, at best, be only part of the story.

Yet I exist in the hope that these memoirs, in some manner, I know not how, may find their way to the minds of humanity in Some Dimensionality and may stir up a race of rebels who refuse to be confined to a limited Dimensionality.

E. A. Abbott, Flatland