Author Archives: woit

Today’s Hype

Posted on October 29, 2019 by woit

Hype about string theory and fundamental physics seemed to have been dying down recently, with only three editions here so far in 2019 of This Week’s Hype. Today however brings a bumper crop of the highest quality, with new examples … Continue reading →

Posted in Swampland, This Week's Hype | 13 Comments

John Tate 1925-2019

Posted on October 20, 2019 by woit

John Tate, who was responsible for some of the most important developments in number theory and arithmetic geometry during the second half of the twentieth century, has passed away at the age of 94. Tate was a faculty member in … Continue reading →

Posted in Obituaries | 1 Comment

Foundations

Posted on October 11, 2019 by woit

Some links related to the foundations of math and physics: Kevin Hartnett at Quanta has a long article on Jacob Lurie and his work on infinity categories. Unfortunately Lurie didn’t participate in the article himself, so comments are only from … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

2019 Physics Nobel Prizes Announced, John Horgan Wins

Posted on October 8, 2019 by woit

The 2019 Physics Nobel Prizes were announced this morning, half going to Jim Peebles for his work on big bang cosmology, half to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for discovery of an exoplanet. You can read elsewhere more details about … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 25 Comments

Various and Sundry

Posted on October 7, 2019 by woit

Various HEP-related links: The physics briefing book for the ongoing update to the European Strategy for Particle Physics is now available, for more see here. This describes the physics that one might hope to do with various proposed new machines. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Salam: The First ****** Nobel Laureate

Posted on October 3, 2019 by woit

This evening I noticed that a recent documentary about Abdus Salam, entitled Salam: The First ****** Nobel Laureate, has just appeared on Netflix, and I spent some time watching it. The title is a reference to Salam’s membership in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews | 5 Comments

Various and Sundry

Posted on September 26, 2019 by woit

A couple of mathematics items: Photographer Jessica Wynne has been taking photographs of mathematician’s blackboards, and there’s a story about this in the New York Times. Many of her photographs have been taken here at Columbia, where we happen to … Continue reading →

Posted in Swampland, Uncategorized | 19 Comments

Recently Modified Posts

Posted on September 18, 2019 by woit

I’ve often added material to recent posts as “updates”, while aware that some who might be interested would likely not realize the added material was there. To improve the situation, I’ve just added a “Recently Modified Posts” widget on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

The Number of the Heavens

Posted on September 18, 2019 by woit

Multiverse mania seems to have been dying down recently, with this only the third entry in that category here so far this year, after 10 in 2018, 13 in 2017, 10 in 2016, 17 in 2015, 18 in 2014, 12 … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Multiverse Mania | 10 Comments

Metaphorical Worlds Interpretation

Posted on September 17, 2019 by woit

Chad Orzel has a piece at Forbes which I like a lot, where he argues that the “Many Worlds” of the MWI interpretation should be taken metaphorically, and thus the MWI really should be the “Metaphorical Worlds Interpretation”. I urge … Continue reading →

Posted in Quantum Mechanics | Comments Off on Metaphorical Worlds Interpretation