The Journey: A physicist in search of the connections between math, nature and the human mind Paperback – October 11, 2025

In the 17th century, Leibniz and Newton invented the infinitesimal calculus. Studying the relationships between the geometry of leaves, branches, and trunks in a growing tree reveals that they obey the same calculus rules.Math describes nature.In the 19th Century, PAM Dirac laid the mathematical foundations for a new physics called quantum mechanics. A solution of his equations describing the electron behavior pointed at the existence of a twin particle with a positive charge. Later, PW Anderson found experimental evidence of the existence in nature of this particle, called a positron. Math predicts nature.A mathematical function linking the frequency and time evolution of a signal can be found in birds' songs, radar pulses, and the signature of gravitational waves from the collapse of two black holes.The human mind, math, and nature: everything is connected.The book invites you to follow the author, a physicist, on a journey through his research and studies, where he encounters with awe glimpses of these strange connections among the human mind, math, and nature.It is not a set of lecture notes or lessons in physics. The readers should consider it a fable in which the author's emotions in finding an underlying unification between math and nature establish a filrouge among different subjects.Although the book has no rigid structure, the travel agency suggests that one itinerary in the journey could follow a path from the small through the big to the human mind. Accordingly, you will meet at first light, sound, electrons, noise, and fractals. Further on, gravity, planets, neutron stars, black holes, gravitational waves. Afterward, the human mind, with its connections with the world of Platonic ideas, such as religion and faith, Finally, devices created by the human mind through math, such as AI, are a mirror where the human mind finds a reflection of itself.Last but not least, hopefully, the book will help spread this message. The Universe is an immense treasure trove full of wonders. Let us look away from the mundanity proposed by some behavioral models and take the time to open this treasure trove. We will acquire a new way of seeing what surrounds us and be able to establish new relationships with nature and perhaps the supernatural.No fear; the journey does not include equations. However, it is now and then sprinkled with the pepper of citations from the Opera world and poetry.About the author.Gianfranco (Frank) De Grandi, a physicist, spent most of his career as a researcher with the EU Joint Research Center. Here, he started counting neutrons and gamma rays for nuclear safeguards and ended up counting photons for remote sensing of earth ecosystems.He was the principal investigator in several remote sensing projects carried out with space agencies in Europe (ESA), the USA (NASA JPL), and Japan (JAXA).He was on secondment as a staff member at Bell Communication Research, where he used photons in Gbit local area networks. He was also an adjunct professor at the University of Laval in Quebec, Canada.He researched and lectured at NRL (Naval Research Laboratory), LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory) in the USA, and the University of Wales in the UK.He was a science team member of the German Aerospace (DLR) TANDEM-X mission.He is first author of several peer-reviewed papers in international science and technology journals.He is an IEEE life fellow (Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers).When not doing math, he swims on land (his garden) and sea and plays Schubert on a Yamaha grand piano. His foray into opera singing and book writing was a failure. Read more