Why are there so many physics books with "God" in their titles? Why does Stephen Hawking talk about knowing the "mind of God"? Any why did Einstein constantly refer to the deity in his writings about physics? In 'Pythagoras' Trousers' Margaret Wertheim argues that the association of God with physics is age old and that from its inception physics has been religiously inspired activity - a science based on a conception of God as a divine mathematical Creator. In this highly accessible book, Wertheim offers an astute cultural and social history of physics from ancient Greece to our own time, following the religious inspiration in this science from Pythagoras to Hawking.
Moreover, Wertheim suggests that the priestly culture of physics has served throughout the ages as a powerful barrier to the entry of women and that the physicists' world picture has evolved from a deeply "masculine" perspective. But what, Wertheim asks, would the world look like - what could the world look like - if men and women worked side by side in shaping the physics of the future?
