A geometric approach to one of physics’ deepest mysteries.
By Bruce E. Camber “with assistance from Claude (Anthropic), Grok (xAI), Gemini (Google), and other AI platforms (synthetic peer review).”
Hello friends and family,
Welcome to the 81018 Project. We are glad you are here. Once a new homepage goes public, work continues on new concept. This page will be an easier-to-read article about “The 137“, the fine-structure constant –https://81018.com/137-2026/ This page is my copy of that article for friends and family. Thank you for your patience as I get back to work! -Bruce
Introduction: A Brief History.
Richard Feynman1 called it, “One of the greatest damn mysteries of physics.”
He was talking about the number 137 — or more precisely, its reciprocal: the fine-structure constant, α ≈ 1/137.036. It is one of the universe’s stubborn special secrets that controls the vitals of the universe — electromagnetic force, the interactions of electrons and photons, the scale of atomic structure, the brightness of stars, and the chemistry of life itself.
For more than a century, nobody has been able to detect an origin of “the 137.” The fine-structure constant, as of 2026, is an unsolved mystery. It’s not part of string theory or quantum field theory or standard model particle physics. It’s very precise — out twelve decimal places — it remains behind a door that’s in the dark. Feynman died still puzzled and still trying to figure out a way to unlock that door.
Let us venture into a once dark space.
In an imaginary talk with Feynman, I’ve asked him to close his eyes: “Think of the most simple three-dimensional thing within the universe.” Given his incessant lectures about the fundamentality of spheres, his answer should be, “The sphere.”
“Now imagine the universe began with one infinitesimal sphere defined by the Planck base units and all their dimensionless constants, the three base qualities of sphere – continuity-symmetry-harmony — plus the stabilizing effects of the four primary irrational numbers beginning with pi (π), the Golden Ratio (φ, phi), Euler’s Number (e) and the Square Root of 2 (√2).”
I would declare, “That’s a very particular, well-defined sphere.”
“Now assume one sphere per unit of Planck Length-and-Time. Do the calculation to make the discovery that it renders 18.5 tredecillion spheres per second. It is both qualitative and quantitative, a quiet expansion and at the first notation, the most dense expansion.”
In Feynman’s time the big bang theory and steady state theory were being argued. That was enough. This was little interest in the extraordinarily small units of length and time that Max Planck caculated in 1899. In 2022, the eminent Harvard physicist, Cumrun Vafa said in his TASI summer lectures, “…Planck scale physics. We have no idea. We have no good description of what happens at Planck scale.”
As a thought experiment, a toy model at best, let’s assume the 18.5 tredecillion spheres per second is possible at the Planck scale. And then we assume that it defines not just the first second, but every second thereafter. We might assume that it has slowed down, but that process has been virtually a steady state and a big bang of this universe every second thereafter. What happens next?
The centerpoints of spheres are magical. With continuity-symmetry-harmony, spheres discover spheres, centerpoints discover centerpoints, and straight lines emerge from sphere to sphere. Triangulation, tetrahedrons, then octahedrons. Taking the path of least resistance, we’ve called it an Inescapable Geometric Pipeline (Figure 2). As six triangles triangulate, one combination begins to encase and create an octahedron. That’s a perfection.
When five tetrahedrons bind along a common edge, a simple 7.356103° gap is created. When five octahedrons share a common edge, they also create a 7.356103° gap. When twenty tetrahedrons are packed around a common center point, the same 7.356103° gaps are created.
Within the first second of the universe those five basic Platonic solids will have manifest as cubes, dodecahedra, and icosahedra. Within a second every possible shape and combination could be attempted. So many equations are active, many possible configurations could be attempted. That first second brings us up to Notation-143. The first full day, 86,400 seconds, we are up to Notation-160, a year-Notation-169, a thousand years – 179, a million years 189 and a billion years – 199.
It is all dynamic and it’s going on right now. Every notation is active. Within that first second the archtetypal dynamics of the universe are tested up to Notation 143 and then adjusted and refined up to Notation-202.
We’ll focus on the sub-second (femto-second) Notation-137.
The spice of life, creativity, individuality, uniques… all begin with a gap.
The first layer of the universe — densely packed-and-stacked, rotating spheres, a moment of perfection that differentiates rather quickly.
More to come…
1Richard Feynman was a professor of physics at Caltech from 1950 to 1982. Wikipedia for more.