FlashForward and 137

We posted a story about the #137 on February 21, when our blog was just two weeks old. We’re summarizing it here as context for what follows.

To recap: Wolfgang Pauli, a physicist and Nobel laureate, was an early supporter of Jung’s theory on synchronicity and investigated the phenomenon as well. He had a rather striking experience with a set of numbers. Pauli was confounded by one of the unsolved mysteries of modern physics, the value of the fine structure constant, which involves the number 137.

A prime number can be divided by 1 and by itself. Or, put another way, a prime number is a positive integer that cannot equal the product of two smaller integers. That makes 137 a prime number and a particularly baffling one. In Deciphering the Cosmic Number: the Strange Friendship of Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung, Arthur I. Miller provides a brief, but fascinating history about the number 137 in the world of quantum physics.

It was ‘discovered’ in 1915 by Arnold Sommerfield, who was Pauli’s mentor when he was still a student. “From the moment 137 first popped up in his equations, he and other physicists…quickly realized that this unique ‘fingerprint’ was the sum of certain fundamental constants of nature, specific quantities believed to be invariable throughout the universe, quantities central to relativity and quantum theory.”

The number became so baffling to physicists that the great Richard Feynman, who won the Nobel Prize in 1965 for his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, said that physicists should put a sign in their offices to remind themselves of how much they don’t know. The sign would be simple: 137.

Not only is 137 “the DNA of light,” as Miller puts it, but also is the number associated with the Kabbalah. In a system that sounds very much like numerology, Miller explains that in ancient Hebrew, numbers were written with letters, and each letter has a number associated with it. “Adepts of the philosophical system known as the Gematria add the numbers in Hebrew words and thus find hidden meanings in them.” In Hebrew, the word Kabbalah has four letters that add up to 137. Not surprisingly, physicists began referring to 137 as a mystical number.

Pauli certainly found this to be the case. He wrestled with its implications most of his life. When he was admitted to the hospital at the age of 58 and learned he would be in room 137, he supposedly said, “I will never get out of here.” And he was right. He died shortly afterward.
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So: ABC has a new series that started September 24, called FlashForward, based on a novel by Robert Sawyer. Premise: for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, everyone on the planet blacks out and sees a scene from their own lives six months in the future. Now people have to figure out what it all means in terms of a global picture about the state of the world six months from now (April 2010). As one character put it, “Why did 7 billion people black out exactly at the same time, for 137 seconds?”

As soon as we heard that 137, we decided to TIVO for the second episode.

This entry was posted in 137, flashforward, Numbers, Pauli, TV. Bookmark the permalink.

18 Responses to FlashForward and 137

  1. Trish and Rob MacGregor says:

    Intriguin, april. Any URLs for that band?!

  2. April fools says:

    almost 8 years ago, my perverted highschool guy friends decided to add, subtract, multiply and divide the number 69. Point is, they got the final answer of 137. Since then, my circle of friends at the time saw 137 everywhere, on the clock, on the tv, here it on the radio. Three or four of my friends actually got the number tattooed on themselves, before anyone read anything factual about the number. I watched a movie, coffee and cigarettes, randomly turned over the dvd case to read the back, and it popped out to me that the movie runtime was 1 hour 37 minutes. I went to a concert a few years ago, and had not any clue until i got there that the opening band was called 137! I have a sticker from that show. Good times

  3. Trish and Rob MacGregor says:

    Interesting information, anonymous. Thanks for posting it. The # stumped even Feynman.

  4. Anonymous says:

    My studies indicate 137 points to the message of the hour. 137 is gematria for the Hebrew phrases "Elohi Amen," the "God of Truth," "like the Angel of the Lord," and in Greek, "the seventh." It is the sum of 100 for the elect and 37 which is recognized as signifying the oracle of the Lord or spoken Word.
    In science 137 is a mysterious constant associated with elotromagnetic energy and is called alpha. 137 is the alpha to science and the Elohi Amen or omega to the Hebrews. Alpha and the omega, the oracle of God or Word of the hour

  5. Anonymous says:

    Gen 13:7 Strife between Abram and Lot. Rev 13:7 Power is given to him (Beast) to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. physicists claim the Universe is 13.7 billion years old. In Kabbalah Wisdom=73 + Prophecy=64= 137. Mother=79 + Father=58=137. Wisdom+Prophecy is Utopia (Karl Marx's vision of the return to Eden). Notice the Nazi is released in episode 2; this series is Kabbalist communication. Time to Wake Up Theresnothingnew.org/

  6. Anonymous says:

    I have thousands of hours of research into this number and a lot of synchro stories to go along with it.

    As Pauli died in room 137 I woke up there.

    thkillians@aol.com

  7. GYPSYWOMAN says:

    interestingly, enough, when my daughter was looking at this house to buy, i was a bit hesitant because it's in a cul de sac and i didn't want bad feng shui hanging around her family but when i saw the house number i thought it was neat cause 1+3+7=11! so i designed her landscape and interior things to enhance the chi flow there you go!

    oh, and "C" – that was just my attempt at dry humor – perhaps too dry! long story on the delaware thing

    terri – thank you so much for such a kind comment – i should apologize since i've been a bit out of creative kilter again – got a splurge a few days ago and then waning again since –

    trish – on the CERN thing – gee, i'm wondering if we could get a spot for our russian friend there – like a spot sitting by the red button…. 🙂

  8. Simon from Caly says:

    Yeah like I said Richard Feyman, as cool a cat as there was, cooler then the beatles, even cooler then B.D. or K.K. as far as I'm concerned. Prime numbers in order how many DOB's fall into that pattern huh Rob, humble but slightly isolated and ridiculde by family.

  9. terripatrick says:

    My clock shows 11:37 so I'll post my ideas on this. 🙂

    Much of what follows is only my interpretation of insights from spiritual teachers to me, and my own studies, which includes a 10 week intensive on the Kabbalah.

    1 – the individual, also associated with initiating. The first idea, the creative consciousness of self.
    3 – integrated balance of creativity, communication and compassion within the self (#1)
    7 – spirituality, the higher "prime".

    713 has been my number, my whole life. I just liked it. The above information has been distilled for the past 12 years, into these simple definitions. My personal philosophy is that my 713 journey is to learn to bring the spiritual prime forward, for my personal journey.

    Note to gypsywoman – Your address is 137? too cool! No wonder I use your blogs and inspirations as my morning meditations! Because, in spirit, nothing is linear – so the numbers don't have to be in a straight line.

  10. Trish and Rob MacGregor says:

    CERN – European Organization for Nuclear Research – is a center for scientific research near Geneva. Quoting from site about it: "The instruments used at CERN are 0particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before they are made to collide with eahc other or with stationary targets."

    It will be interesting to see what they come up with in terms of #137, if anything.

  11. Nancy says:

    Very, very interesting. I had no idea this number had such meaning. I watched the first episode of Flashforward and it was pretty good. At the risk of sounding totally ignorant – what is CERN?

  12. "C" says:

    @ Trish and Rob MacGregor, BEST POST YET! great stuff and very interesting.

    @ GYPSYWOMAN lol are you serious? <–%50 rhetorical

    PS I personally belive [in my multiverse] that trying to predict the future is a "sin" so to speak. I believe you can crunch coincidences down to a level such you can predict logical points but, that I believe when and if someone does this they back off (aka continue on the same path that lead them there). I believe if you come to that point it is time to throw a curve ball and switch it up. I may do a blog to get a bit more into this, but hop you catch what I am getting at.

    Peace TQO

  13. Trish and Rob MacGregor says:

    There are some big discrepancies between the book and the first episode. In the book, the setting is Switzerland; on TV, it's LA. CERN is involved in the book. No mention of CERN in episode 1.

  14. Jeff says:

    Wow…that's very interesting! I wanted to watch that show but forgot about it. I may have to see if I can find the episode online.

  15. Trish and Rob MacGregor says:

    Naw, Jenean. That's just what it was for Pauli!

  16. GYPSYWOMAN says:

    ok, our house number is 137 – does this mean i'm never going to leave delaware and/or this house? i should start packing today, in that case 🙂

    and i heard the blurp on the show just the other day "why did 7 billion people black out…." but did not realize the significance at the time – can't miss the next episode, for sure!

    thanks for great post!

  17. Trish and Rob MacGregor says:

    Bienvenido, Jose!

  18. José Ramón says:

    You have a very interesting blog.
    Greetings from creativity and imagination photos of Jose Ramon

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