The fine structure constant and numerical alchemy — mentioned by T-A

Mon, 26 Nov 2018 22:31:20 GMT

I have never seen a physicist put that particular number on a wall (these days, the cosmological constant would be a better bet). I am vaguely aware of numerological attempts (some collected in [1]) to "explain" why 137 is "special", none of which has ever led anywhere. As far as I can tell, the fascination with it got started by the number being close to an integer, and maybe the remark in [1] that "In ancient Hebraic language letters where used for numbers, and Cabbala is the word corresponding to 137" played a role. But we know that it isn't an integer, and that it runs [2] like any…

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.

The fine structure constant and numerical alchemy · HackerPapers discussions

The fine structure constant and numerical alchemy — mentioned by T-A