Fruber’s Theory - How the Multiverse Was Discovered
It was a rather ordinary day; in fact, it was a very ordinary day. Fruber Von Grindstone had returned home after a tedious work day at the Astrological Physics Lab of Purbulberg (APLOP) and he was sorting the load of laundry that he had just pulled out of the dryer. That was the scene when inspiration hit him. Here is how it happened.
After searching through the entire load of clothes and then retracing his path from the dryer to the bedroom, where he was sorting the load, several times, as well as checking the washer and the dryer thoroughly and checking and re-checking the dirty clothes hamper from which the load had come, he still could not find a missing sock.
Fruber’s background in physics made it clear that material things do not just disappear into thin air. The sock must still exist; it must be somewhere. This is when the spark of genius hit Fruber right between the eyes. “It must be in some other dimension of space-time that I cannot perceive.”
The implications had Fruber’s head spinning. Is this a phenomena that only occurs with socks? Is there something special about my home, especially around my laundry room? Could this explain why my watch disappeared from my locker at the gym? Could this explain why Uncle Norbert went missing 15 years ago and has never been found (although aunt Gretl has other theories related to the withdrawal from their bank account).
In any case, Fruber was pretty sure that he was onto something and he could hardly wait until the next day so he could start to build a mathematical construct that could explain this and other mysteries of the universe. That was when the second spark of genius flashed for Fruber. There may not be an explanation in this single universe. Perhaps the answer is as simple and obvious as the fact that there are multiple universes and that some objects, especially socks, have the capacity to move seamlessly between them.
At this point, things started to move very quickly. Fruber spent several days on the mathematical construct but then, even though he was quite proficient at math, he felt the need to get one or two of his colleagues who were theoretical mathematicians involved.
When explaining his theory to them, Fruber decided not to mention that the theory was inspired by a lost stocking. He thought that may sound a bit unscientific so he told them that he had come up with it while watching an episode of Star Trek in which Spock made some oblique reference to other universes. At least that is what it seemed like Spock had said. They listened to Fruber’s theory and they were immediately all in. They even thought that they remembered the episode.
In any case, Fruber was uncertain about what power of Pi (~ imagine two little lines under the squiggle) was appropriate on page twelve of the construct. His colleagues got right to work on it and within days determined that it was the nineteenth power of Pi that made the equation work perfectly.
From there, the next step was to prepare and present the theory to the rest of the scientists at the lab. This took quite a bit of effort but, with the help of his colleagues, they knocked it out in about a week. The other scientists at the lab were originally a bit skeptical but after a few days, when they considered all of the phenomena that this could explain and when they could find no fault with the math, they decided to support Fruber’s theory.
At this point, it was time to present the theory to the entire scientific community. Since they wanted to make sure that no one else beat them to the punch, the entire lab threw its focus on the effort and, by scientific paper standards, it was accomplished at light speed, only taking three months.
The paper took the scientific community by storm. Almost all of them had seen the Star Trek episode and it had been eating at them for years. Now, here was mathematical proof positive that it was true and it also made it clear that the Vulcan was a genius.
Honors and awards followed for Fruber and for his team and for the lab as a whole. Fruber’s life became a whirlwind of activity with scientific conventions and galas regularly taking up his time. It was just as he was getting dressed for one of these events, which was happening right in Purbulberg, that Fruber noticed something under his bed. He bent down and found that it was his missing sock.
It was a rather ordinary day; in fact, it was a very ordinary day. Fruber Von Grindstone had returned home after a tedious work day at the Astrological Physics Lab of Purbulberg (APLOP) and he was sorting the load of laundry that he had just pulled out of the dryer. That was the scene when inspiration hit him. Here is how it happened.
After searching through the entire load of clothes and then retracing his path from the dryer to the bedroom, where he was sorting the load, several times, as well as checking the washer and the dryer thoroughly and checking and re-checking the dirty clothes hamper from which the load had come, he still could not find a missing sock.
Fruber’s background in physics made it clear that material things do not just disappear into thin air. The sock must still exist; it must be somewhere. This is when the spark of genius hit Fruber right between the eyes. “It must be in some other dimension of space-time that I cannot perceive.”
The implications had Fruber’s head spinning. Is this a phenomena that only occurs with socks? Is there something special about my home, especially around my laundry room? Could this explain why my watch disappeared from my locker at the gym? Could this explain why Uncle Norbert went missing 15 years ago and has never been found (although aunt Gretl has other theories related to the withdrawal from their bank account).
In any case, Fruber was pretty sure that he was onto something and he could hardly wait until the next day so he could start to build a mathematical construct that could explain this and other mysteries of the universe. That was when the second spark of genius flashed for Fruber. There may not be an explanation in this single universe. Perhaps the answer is as simple and obvious as the fact that there are multiple universes and that some objects, especially socks, have the capacity to move seamlessly between them.
At this point, things started to move very quickly. Fruber spent several days on the mathematical construct but then, even though he was quite proficient at math, he felt the need to get one or two of his colleagues who were theoretical mathematicians involved.
When explaining his theory to them, Fruber decided not to mention that the theory was inspired by a lost stocking. He thought that may sound a bit unscientific so he told them that he had come up with it while watching an episode of Star Trek in which Spock made some oblique reference to other universes. At least that is what it seemed like Spock had said. They listened to Fruber’s theory and they were immediately all in. They even thought that they remembered the episode.
In any case, Fruber was uncertain about what power of Pi (~ imagine two little lines under the squiggle) was appropriate on page twelve of the construct. His colleagues got right to work on it and within days determined that it was the nineteenth power of Pi that made the equation work perfectly.
From there, the next step was to prepare and present the theory to the rest of the scientists at the lab. This took quite a bit of effort but, with the help of his colleagues, they knocked it out in about a week. The other scientists at the lab were originally a bit skeptical but after a few days, when they considered all of the phenomena that this could explain and when they could find no fault with the math, they decided to support Fruber’s theory.
At this point, it was time to present the theory to the entire scientific community. Since they wanted to make sure that no one else beat them to the punch, the entire lab threw its focus on the effort and, by scientific paper standards, it was accomplished at light speed, only taking three months.
The paper took the scientific community by storm. Almost all of them had seen the Star Trek episode and it had been eating at them for years. Now, here was mathematical proof positive that it was true and it also made it clear that the Vulcan was a genius.
Honors and awards followed for Fruber and for his team and for the lab as a whole. Fruber’s life became a whirlwind of activity with scientific conventions and galas regularly taking up his time. It was just as he was getting dressed for one of these events, which was happening right in Purbulberg, that Fruber noticed something under his bed. He bent down and found that it was his missing sock.