Two Revolutions: Einstein’s Relativity and Quantum Physics a Dialogue Between Father and Daughter

＂Can you kick a black hole?＂ ＂What about electrons?＂ As a child, quantum-physicist Smitha Vishveshwara pondered such questions with her astrophysicist father, C. V. Vishveshwara (Vishu); decades later, their musings grew into a series of letter exchanges in Two Revolutions: Relativity and Quantum Physics.

The letters between father and daughter lead the scientifically curious reader through these two remarkable branches of physics that dramatically changed our perception of nature. From the subatomic to the astronomical realms, they weave a rich tapestry of scientific insight, history, personal anecdotes, philosophy, and wonder.

The book traces Einstein’s tenacious journey in formulating the theory of relativity, in which space and time merge, and gravitation warps spacetime, forming the very fabric of the Universe. The authors reveal how black holes and gravitational waves emerge as bizarre and awe-inspiring constructs within this framework. In the quantum realm, the book mulls over conundrums posed by wave-particle duality, Schrodinger’s curious cat, the beautiful dance of electrons in atoms, and entanglement. It explores communities of particles acting in marvelous concert in magnetic resonance imaging, superfluids, and more.

Fate took unforeseen twists while the book was still in the making. In 2016, after decades of work by numerous researchers, the detection of gravitational waves -- Vishu’s lifelong dream -- finally came to pass. Emanating from two spiraling blackholes a billion light years away, the waves’ signals even showed hints of Vishu’s pioneering predictions on black hole ringdowns from the 1970s. But soon after that glorious culmination, Vishu fell critically ill. Smitha concludes their story by recreating the euphoria of scientific discovery against the intimate backdrop of life and death.

Smitha Vishveshwara, Professor of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, C. V. Vishveshwara, Senior Professor of Astrophysics, Indian Institute of Astrophysics

Smitha Vishveshwara is a Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research in quantum condensed matter physics includes studying emergent phenomena in correlated systems, such as collective excitations and particles known as anyons; percolation behavior in protein networks; gravitational parallels in quantum matter; and realization of ultracold quantum bubbles aboard the International Space Station. She recently served as the American Physical Society’s Chair of the Division of Condensed Matter Physics. She collaborates with artists to create works that explore the wonders of physics, including the theatre piece Quantum Voyages and the circus performance Cosmic Tumbles, Quantum Leaps.

C.V. Vishveshwara was a Senior Professor of Astrophysics at the Raman Research Institute and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru, India. As a pioneer of black hole studies, he proved their stability and predicted their ringdown signature in gravitational waves. He wrote several popular articles and two popular books, including Einstein’s Enigma or Black Holes in my Bubble Bath, and richly illustrated his presentations with his cartoons. As the founder-director of the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium in Bengaluru, he established youth educational programs and wrote and directed several planetarium shows.