The Golden Ratio of the Universe. φ — The Number of God

Mario Livio — a world-famous astrophysicist, science communicator, author of more than 400 scientific articles and popular science books, which have made significant theoretical contributions to various topics from cosmology, supernova explosions and black holes to exoplanets and the origin of life in the Universe. This mysterious number, represented by the symbol φ by mathematicians, has been called many things: the golden ratio, the Number of God, and the divine proportion. It plays a crucial role in the geometry of living nature and in human creations, being laid at the foundation of works of painting, sculpture, and architecture, and moreover — adventurous novels are dedicated to it! But is such fame deserved? What is the truth here, and what is not quite so, what is the history of the golden ratio in science and culture, and what has sparked such interest in this simple geometric relationship, Mario Livio set out to discover. The unique investigation led to unexpected results…