The 'Magic number' everyone knows but no one understands!

Drum roll, please.... 1/137.

No units. A value one gets by combining the speed of light, Planck's constant, and the charge of an electron or proton. It appears in electromagnetic theory, relativity, and quantum mechanics. It is connected with all the pillars of physics, and is necessary to understand how atoms work.

But NO ONE has a clue as to why it is so important, or if it holds the key to a unified theory of physics and nature. Physicists, especially theorists, often write the number on their chalkboards, so it is always there and always on their minds.

Does this number hold the key to understanding the entire universe???? Perhaps, but we don't know. It is given the name fine structure constant in textbooks, because it was connected early on over a century ago to a particular feature of the electromagnetic spectrum (which has to do with the nature of how atoms emit light). But it is a puzzle waiting to be solved, even though all of the great physics geniuses over the past 100+ years have taken a shot at trying to figure it out.

For more, check this. For a little more technical information, check here.

A visual about the essence of 'privilege'

If you have never seen the video below, it is worth the 3-4 minutes of time. I'm posting this as we are all watching what seems to be the US imploding over the fact of systemic and institutionalized racism. We are all hearing and seeing on every social media platform and news broadcast the anger and frustration and fear that comes from another killing of a black man, George Floyd, by a police officer. And we are hearing about 'white privilege.'

This term does NOT mean automatically a white person is racist. What it does mean is that there are many aspects of our normal, everyday lives that we can go about our business without any negative consequences - but people of color often cannot do the same things we do, or have the same set of circumstances in their lives that many white people have that simply make life easier. None of us have control over what color of skin we are born into. Growing up as kids, we don't have control over the circumstances of the lives we lead. But perhaps a good and necessary first step is to recognize that the everyday 'normal' of many/most white people is not the same as the everyday 'normal' of many/most people of color. This difference in everyday normals every person must deal with goes to the essence of what white privilege means.

Obviously this is not about physics. It is much more important than physics - it is about both our individual and collective humanity, the difference between right and wrong, and about a learning and healing process our nation desperately needs so every single person can help make Martin Luther King's dream become a reality some day, when one is not judged by the color of one's skin, but instead by one's character.