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November 5,2021
Austin Kuan
Climate change is a major issue confronting the Earth at the start of the twenty-first century. How to effectively measure the change in the Earth's atmospheric temperature requires not only data from weather stations around the world, but also the application of widely accepted physical theories and mathematical models in the scientific field. Then we won't just talk past each other; we'll persuade the world to work together to save energy and reduce carbon emissions, thereby reducing the harm caused by climate change to the people of the world. The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2021 was awarded to three scholars from related fields, including the United States, Germany, and Italy, for their work on the era topic of climate change.
Let me explain the relationship between physics and mathematics before I introduce these three physicists. If you have the opportunity to see how Nicolaus Copernicus (14731543) observed that the Earth revolves around the Sun, rather than the Sun revolving around the Earth as the Catholic Church had previously believed, you will discover by consulting his notes that the majority of the content is the application of the calculation of "trigonometric function" in mathematics. Mathematics can be used to "measure the world" as well as "measure the universe." Therefore, looking at Copernicus' scientific manuscript from nearly 500 years ago, you can see that astronomical physical observations are supported by mathematics.
Nowadays, advanced mathematics is required to deduce how a comet's orbit is drawn, how black holes form in the universe, and how gravity changes in black holes. As a result, an excellent physicist must have advanced mathematical calculation ability or find an excellent mathematician to assist him in his physics inferences. Einstein is a world-renowned physicist with a keen sense of physics. However, no matter how precise a person's professional intuition was after being proven, he still required the assistance of first-class mathematician A.E. Noether at Georg-August University of Göttingen and other professors with mathematical operations.
The physics world is fascinating. It takes more time to solve problems in matter molecules than it does to solve problems at the scale of the universe. When scientists discovered that protons, neutrons, and electrons exist in the molecular structure, they believed that this was the limit of matter decomposition. However, later physicists discovered the existence of smaller particles through particle accelerators, and even discovered that particles can exist in the form of energy rather than substance, which enters the realm of "quantum physics." In tandem with the ongoing development of advanced mathematics, the physics world is moving toward the development of rules that humans once thought were so disordered that they were impossible to discover. Here, you may consider how carbon dioxide gradually warms the Earth's atmosphere and what will happen next. The Nobel Prize Selection Committee has made it a priority.
On October 5, the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics was announced to be given to Japanese-American scholar Syukuro Manabe, German scholar Klaus Hasselmann, and Italian scholar Giorgio Parisi. The prize was awarded to Manabe and Hasselmann for “the physical modeling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming.” The award was given to the two for their work on the issue of "climate change." Let's start with that. The role of Parisi will be discussed later.
Nobel Prizes are not given to people who have died. The winner must be alive at the time of the announcement and have adequate communication and interview skills. Both Manabe and Hasselman were born in 1931 and will turn 90 this year. The former is a senior meteorologist at Princeton University in the United States. Because they are both still alive and have a high level of academic achievement in developing theoretical models of climate change, they should be honored in due course. Why am I saying this? Manabe and Hasselman were the first meteorologists or "geophysicists" to win the Nobel Prize in Physics because they are classified as "meteorologists" rather than being regarded as the field of traditional physics (as large as the universe, as medium as matter, and as small as the structure of particles).
Syukuro Manabe grew up and went to school in Japan. At the age of 27, he received a doctorate in science from the University of Tokyo, after which he worked in the General Circulation Research Department of the US Meteorological Administration and became a US citizen. When he received the Nobel Prize, he told reporters that if he had stayed in Japan at that time, it might be difficult for him to reach today's academic achievements. He believed that conducting academic research in Japan would not yield a genuine response simply because they did not want to offend others. In comparison, he was very pleased with the research environment in the United States. When Japanese heard these words, they would be disturbed. Manabe, after all, won the prize as an American.
The key that Manabe refers to is the word "truth." If academic research is based on discovering the truth in the connotation of something you don't understand, it may bear fruit if you continue to work hard. However, if academics are to serve politics, be concerned about human feelings, or even face exclusion from their peers, then scholars who love research will leave. Japan has produced 19 Nobel laureates, but in the last decade, the proportion of Japanese scholars' papers cited by the global academic community has decreased. Manabe's feelings may be representative of Japanese academia's pain points!
The problem that Hasselman has encountered in meteorological physics is similar to Manabe's. In response to changes in atmospheric temperature, in the 1970s and 1980s he proposed a revolutionary theory that challenged popular thinking, and was ridiculed and challenged by the German academic community. Hasselman, on the other hand, believes that "anyone who proposes a classic theory will undoubtedly be challenged by the current mainstream." The truth will become clearer and clearer as time goes on, and he is not afraid to challenge it.
Physics is a difficult subject, and this article will not go into detail about the physics controversy. Manabe and Hasselman's academic achievements predate the 1980s, and it has been more than 40 years since the Nobel Prize was awarded to them. This is due to the fact that the theoretical model is proposed first and must be continuously verified before being accepted by academia or scientific applications. Furthermore, these physical discoveries must have far-reaching consequences for the evolution of the world, and 40 years is not too late. This is why many Nobel Prize winners receive their awards at an advanced age.
Manabe was fortunate. His "truth" was not tolerated in Japan, so he moved to America; Hasselman's "truth" shocked German academia, and he chose to face the challenge calmly. Although the two have different personalities and coping mechanisms, their academic achievements were later confirmed. It explains that if a country or society strives to return to "truth," it will end up with a large number of academic accomplishments worthy of consideration by those in power.
Giorgio Parisi, an Italian scholar, received the award for his use of "statistical physics" to aid in the development of models to better understand the Earth. This is a unusual area of physics that few people are aware of. Everything can be calculated. The question is "How?"
This reminds me of the well-known Chinese-American historian Ray Huang (Huang Jen-Yu). To understand the true cause of Chinese notorious peasant leader Huang Chao’s (835－884) uprising during 875-884 in late Tang Dynasty (618－907）, he proposed using "statistical changes in local taxes" to solve the problem. This was a true cut from an unpopular field. Then, among the complex variables, he discovered a reason that could persuade historians of the century-long turmoil of the times. We can infer from Ray Huang's academic achievements and Parisi's "statistical physics" that many things in today's Earth System are interconnected. Is there no order, or are we unable to extract a clue from the chaos? Parisi's academic achievements stemmed from this, and the "statistical physics" he established can only be linked to the theoretical model developed by Manabe and Hasselman more than 40 years ago, doing his best to combat global warming and climate change.
The Nobel Prize in Physics is an international academic award given to the person who comes closest to the "genuine." It will reflect the "truth" in scholars' disposition, as well as the desire of scholars to discover the "real existence" from fields that their eyes may not be able to see, such as black holes, infrared rays, magnetic waves, and smaller particles; or, in the face of the Earth's environmental risks, scholars are eager to find the "most real" influence factor from the chaos of complex variables. Although it is difficult for us to delve deeply into the realm of physics, the individuality, will, and academic achievements displayed by physicists will provide us with a more profound experience of "sincerity" and "truth". Thank them!