In Adrian Bejan's field, there are just two great laws of thermodynamics. So the 59-year-old professor of mechanical engineering at Duke is making no small claim when he says that he has discovered another.
He calls it the Constructal Law and says it predicts how everything -- from lightning bolts and rivers to plants, people and money -- flows through time and space. It explains why birds and airplanes can fly, how cities grow and epidemics spread. It unravels the mysteries of snowflakes and Egypt's pyramids, the evolution of written languages.
By applying its principles, we can build better houses and roads; derive deeper understandings of the challenges posed by illegal immigration and climate change. Through the constructal law, we can make the world a better place.
Bejan's revolutionary idea challenges the age-old assumption that nature is without design.
