Author Archives: woit

The Multiverse Falsified

Posted on June 19, 2018 by woit

The July 1 issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomy Society includes an article evaluating the standard multiverse prediction of the cosmological constant, with result: The predicted (median) value is 50–60 times larger than the observed value. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 15 Comments

Lost in Math

Posted on June 7, 2018 by woit

Sabine Hossenfelder’s new book Lost in Math should be starting to appear in bookstores around now. It’s very good and you should get a copy. I hope that the book will receive a lot of attention, but suspect that much … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 61 Comments

Back at Work

Posted on June 7, 2018 by woit

Now back from a week away, mostly spent in Cambridge. Among the accumulated items of interest: Inference has a review of my book, Woit’s Way, by Andrew Jordan. I like the way it starts out: Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Heinz-Dieter Zeh 1932-2018

Posted on June 6, 2018 by woit

I was sorry to learn today of the death on April 15th of H. Dieter Zeh, one of the major figures responsible for improving our understanding of the physics involved in the measurement problem and related interpretational issues in quantum … Continue reading →

Posted in Obituaries | 1 Comment

There Are No Laws of Physics. There’s Only the Landscape.

Posted on June 4, 2018 by woit

At Quanta magazine, IAS director and string theorist Robbert Dijkgraaf has signed up to the multiverse mania bandwagon with an article announcing There are no laws of physics. There’s only the landscape. Dijkgraaf’s version of the string landscape ideology is: … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 19 Comments

Feynman at 100

Posted on May 29, 2018 by woit

The past month has seen quite a few events and articles celebrating the 100th anniversary of Richard Feynman’s birth (see for example here, here, here and here). Feynman was one of the great figures of twentieth century physics, with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 57 Comments

When Einstein Walked With Gödel

Posted on May 28, 2018 by woit

Jim Holt has a new book out, a collection of essays entitled When Einstein Walked with Gödel. I wrote enthusiastically about his last book (Why Does the World Exist?) here and, if you have any interest at all in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 3 Comments

This and That

Posted on May 21, 2018 by woit

I’ve been trying to find time to write about some books I’ve been reading. Maybe later this week. In the meantime, some things that may be of interest: This week in Norway there will be various events in celebration of … Continue reading →

Posted in Langlands, Uncategorized | 16 Comments

US HEP Budget News

Posted on May 14, 2018 by woit

There’s a HEPAP meeting today, with news about the US HEP budget situation, presentations here. Since the 2016 election physicists have been worried about how the Republican Congress and Trump administration will treat scientific research in general and physics research … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

This Week’s (Stale) Hype

Posted on May 2, 2018 by woit

The usual hype machine is at work this week, with the usual mechanism: University press offices and grant agencies put out irresponsible hype about the work of one their faculty or grantees. In this case, it’s Taming the multiverse: Stephen … Continue reading →

Posted in Fake Physics, Multiverse Mania | 10 Comments