Author Archives: woit

The Crisis in String Theory is Worse Than You Think…

Posted on October 31, 2024 by woit

Curt Jaimungal has a piece out, an interview with Lenny Susskind, with the title The Crisis in String Theory is Worse Than You Think…. Some of what Susskind has to say is the same as in his recent podcast with … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 44 Comments

Various Items

Posted on October 24, 2024 by woit

A few items that may be of interest: Edward Frenkel has a new Youtube show/podcast, entitled AfterMath. I gather that part of the concept here is a follow-on to his book Love and Math, but in this different format. He’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

All Langlands, all the time

Posted on October 3, 2024 by woit

Trying to keep track of everything happening in the Langlands program area of mathematics is somewhat of a losing battle, as new ideas and results keep appearing faster than anyone could be expected to follow. Here are various items: Dennis … Continue reading →

Posted in Langlands | 7 Comments

Richard S. Hamilton 1943-2024

Posted on September 29, 2024 by woit

I heard this morning that Richard Hamilton passed away yesterday early this morning. He was a renowned figure in geometric analysis, and a faculty member here at Columbia since 1998. In terms of mortality, the last year or two at … Continue reading →

Posted in Obituaries | 6 Comments

Is Spacetime Unraveling?

Posted on September 26, 2024 by woit

Quanta magazine has just put out an impressive package of material under the title The Unraveling of Space-Time. Much of it is promoting the “Spacetime is doomed” point of view that influential theorists have been pushing for decades now. A … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 20 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on September 16, 2024 by woit

Today’s Washington Post has an opinion piece from Brian Greene, running under the demonstrably false title Decades later, string theory continues its march toward Einstein’s dream. In the piece, the argument of string theory critics is given as: Critics argue … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 48 Comments

Podcast About String Theory, Other Items

Posted on September 8, 2024 by woit

A few weeks ago I recorded a podcast with Robinson Erhardt, which has now appeared as String Theory and the Crisis in Physics. We mainly talk about the current situation of string theory in physics and the history of how … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 23 Comments

Podcast on Unification

Posted on September 2, 2024 by woit

I recently did another podcast with Curt Jaimungal, on the topic of unification, which is now available here. As part of this I prepared some slides, which are available here. The main goal of the slides is to explain the … Continue reading →

Posted in Euclidean Twistor Unification | 21 Comments

The Terrifying Power of Mathematics

Posted on August 29, 2024 by woit

Ted Jacobson has put on the arXiv a transcription of a 1947 Feynman letter about his efforts to better understand the Dirac equation, in order to find a path integral formulation of it. The letter also contains some fascinating comments … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

The Elegant Universe: 25th Anniversary Edition

Posted on August 20, 2024 by woit

Brian Greene’s The Elegant Universe is being reissued today, in a 25th anniversary edition. It’s the same text as the original, with the addition of a 5 page preface and a 36 page epilogue. The initial excitement among some theorists … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 17 Comments