This artwork titled after String Theory tells of the Elegance and Messiness that lies in its hypothesis, and how they both come together in a visual abstraction that evokes a sense of wonder. 

 

Physicists have a hard time accepting that the universe operates according to the two separate and sometimes contradictory theories: general relativity and quantum mechanics. Thus the hunt for a unified theory began, and String Theory is the current formulation of this ongoing quest. String theory implies that the particles that comprise all the matter that you see in the universe — and all the forces that allow a matter to interact — are made of tiny vibrating strands of energy. It is the nature of strings that unifies general relativity and quantum mechanics. 

 

Elegance unfolds from String Theory being as simple as it is seductive - it is not overly complicated and yet its theoretical ideas go beyond the standard model of particle physics. For the first time, gravity and quantum mechanics were playing by the same rules, at least in theory. Messiness from how String Theory is not a singular theory but rather a class of theories that appears to be nearly infinitely tweakable to all sorts of universes, most of which we do not have. And as the predictions made so far are untestable by current modern day technology, we only know bits and pieces and are unable to see the big picture.