Author Archives: woit

A Physicist’s Physicist Ponders the Nature of Reality

Posted on November 28, 2017 by woit

Quanta magazine has an interesting new piece up, an interview of Witten by Natalie Wolchover. One topic covered in the interview is the question discussed in a recent posting, that of whether a different formulation of QFT exists, one not … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 25 Comments

Theorists Without a Theory

Posted on November 24, 2017 by woit

I had been intending to write something here on the blog about this essay by George Ellis, so when I was contacted by someone at Inference about writing a letter in response, I did so for publication there. It has … Continue reading →

Posted in Favorite Old Posts, Multiverse Mania | 10 Comments

Various Physics News

Posted on November 20, 2017 by woit

First, two local events, involving well-known physics bloggers: Last Thursday I had the pleasure of attending an event at NYU featuring Sabine Hossenfelder and Natalie Wolchover in conversation. You can watch this for yourself here. If you’re not following Hossenfelder … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 29 Comments

Breakthrough Prize 2018

Posted on November 16, 2017 by woit

The Breakthrough Prizes for 2018 will be awarded at a ceremony on December 3, I believe at the usual NASA Hangar 1 in Mountain View. The next day Stanford will host the 2018 Breakthrough Prize symposium, which one will be … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 18 Comments

Various Stuff

Posted on November 12, 2017 by woit

A few links that may be of interest. Mathematics first: A seminar “Lectures Grothendieckiennes” on the mathematical ideas of Alexander Grothendieck is taking place this year in Paris, and has just recently started up. My ex-Columbia colleague Jeff Achter is … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Where the Money Comes From

Posted on November 11, 2017 by woit

Since returning from a vacation partly spent isolated from the internet, I’ve been catching up and noticed that some of the most prominent sources of funding for math and physics research have been making the news: The New York Times … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments

Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations

Posted on November 11, 2017 by woit

While I was away last week on vacation, it seems that Springer has published my book on quantum mechanics and representation theory (previously discussed in various blog posts). The Springer page is here, your institution may provide access to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Quantum Theory: The Book | 10 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on October 26, 2017 by woit

Yet another entry in the long line of nonsensical hype about fundamental physics driven by misleading university press releases is today’s news that CERN Scientists Conclude that the Universe Should Not Exist. Tracking this back through various press stories (see … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 24 Comments

Short Items

Posted on October 24, 2017 by woit

A few short items: My graduate school roommate Nathan Myhrvold has a new book coming out this month, a five-volume series about the science of bread, based on several years of research into the subject at his laboratory near Seattle. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Shut Up and Calculate!?

Posted on October 17, 2017 by woit

I noticed recently that Nima Arkani-Hamed was giving a talk at Cornell, with the title Three Cheers For “Shut Up And Calculate!” In Fundamental Physics. No idea whether or not video is now or will become available. From the abstract … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 61 Comments