Book Launch: "Assim nasce uma ideia"

Published on Oct. 10, 2025, 4:18 p.m.

Our species seems to be conditioned to expand limits, which is the same as saying that we assign enormous, almost supernatural value to the creation of new things, to something that was not exactly taught to us. We do it individually and in solitude. And we also do it with others, in collaboration. Where does this compulsion come from? One of the answers lies in the idea that creation decreases entropy. That, somewhere, it gives shape to something ordered, crystallised. And that, in some way, it goes against the second law of thermodynamics, of life, that everything will become more disordered, more confused.

What is the moment when this transition occurs? When does a mind manage to change the things that surround it and create something new?

Over ten years, Prof. Vítor Cardoso, Distinguished Professor of Physics and Director of the Center of Gravity at the Niels Bohr Institute, and the artist Ana Carvalho collected descriptions about the origin of ideas in physics. Some of these stories were written by colleagues from Técnico, others by Nobel Prize winners, others by doctoral students. From that effort was born the book, now published by Gradiva, “The Birth of an Idea”. The book launch ceremony will take place in the Abreu Faro room, on October 16 at 6:00 p.m. As all beautiful ideas, it will be celebrated with a port wine toast.