Arriving at Enrique Gracián's house, I ask him about a doubt that I had while reading Construir el mundo (Constructing the World), his latest book. I tell him that I understand that an animal or a plant acts to be able to eat or reproduce, and, speaking of elementary particles I can also understand that two atoms negotiate between them to form a compound, but the reason for this fact escapes me. He answers me that they do it because they can, and that it does not make much sense to ask the why of everything at these levels; we would be entering the realms of metaphysics.
He then makes the following reflection: "I make an analogy with humans. The inner world would be the core. The inner world is that part of our being to which only we (as individuals) have access and in order to establish relationships with the other we have to negotiate. No matter if it is a friendship, love or business relationship, there is always a negotiation.
In the world of physics nuclei only touch each other when a nuclear reaction takes place, be it in a reactor, in an atomic bomb or in stellar synthesis. This always results in the transformation of one element into a different one, as, for example, when hydrogen is transformed into helium.
At this point, analogies in the human sphere become mere fantasies. In the religious realm it is when the divine nature is reached (communion) and in more earthly terms, it would be the possibility of a sexual relationship in which the union of the inner worlds would take place in a kind of nuclear reaction that would give rise to the appearance of a new being. To me, this is a thought that is more amusing than interesting."
Gracián has the gift of transmitting his knowledge with simplicity and with a certain dose of humor and irony. Listening to him is always a pleasure, and you always learn new things, or, at least, seen from a new point of view.
Enrique Gracián, who holds a degree in mathematics from the University of Barcelona, has a long history as a teacher in various academic fields, an activity from which he derived a clear vocation for popular science, which he has demonstrated in collaborations in the science supplements of La Vanguardia and El País, as well as in other popular science publications. He was deputy director of the TVE program Redes. He is also the creator of the SANGAKOO method (an innovative system for the teaching of mathematics) and the BOURBAKI project (mathematical method for the treatment of information in business organizations). His publications include the biographies of Von Neumann and Hooke, as well as the mathematical popularization books El Infinito, un descubrimiento sin fin and Los números primos, el largo camino hacia el infinito, translated into more than fourteen languages.