Author Archives: woit

Towards a Grand Unified Theory of Mathematics and Physics

Posted on February 14, 2015 by woit

A draft of an essay I’ve written, with plans to submit it to the FQXI essay contest, is available here. Constructive comments welcome… People who have a take on the subject that has nothing to do with what I’m writing … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 64 Comments

The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time

Posted on February 14, 2015 by woit

Lee Smolin has a new book out last month, co-written with philosopher Roberto Unger, entitled The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time. To get some idea of what he’s up to, there’s a review by Bryan Appleyard at The … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 14 Comments

Short Items, and a Quick Book Review

Posted on February 13, 2015 by woit

Peter Orland has a new blog, Ensnared in Vacuum, where he’s writing about some non-perturbative QFT questions. Physics Today this month has book reviews of two books about theology and the multiverse (one of which I wrote about here). There … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Multiverse Mania | 16 Comments

IPMU Conversation with Edward Witten

Posted on February 6, 2015 by woit

I recently heard from Hirosi Ooguri that a transcript of a long conversation with Witten held at the time of his Kyoto Prize award has just appeared in the Kavli IPMU Newsletter. It’s a truly fascinating document, giving some great … Continue reading →

Posted in Langlands | 23 Comments

Planck Data Out

Posted on February 5, 2015 by woit

Long awaited data from the Planck satellite was released today, papers available here. The accompanying press release leads with results about the timing of the first stars, 500 million years or so after the big bang, with little mention of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 18 Comments

A Letter to the AMS

Posted on February 3, 2015 by woit

Leonid Reyzin at Boston University has drafted a letter in response to the recent article published in the Notices by Michael Wertheimer of the NSA (discussed here). He’s collecting signatures, and if you’re a member of the AMS I urge … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Short Items

Posted on January 29, 2015 by woit

Science magazine this week has an article and a podcast about the NSA and the AMS. AMS president David Vogan is portrayed as outraged at the NSA’s misuse of mathematics, but without much support for doing anything about it: But … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 21 Comments

It Really Is Just Dust

Posted on January 29, 2015 by woit

The Planck collaboration has an inimitable way of releasing important new results, they like to do it in French (see here for instance). Tonight a French Planck website contains the long-awaited news of the results from the BICEP2/Keck/Planck collaboration to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 31 Comments

Mathematics Without Apologies

Posted on January 27, 2015 by woit

If you’d asked me ten years ago to describe a book I’d love to read that could be characterized as part of an “incredibly unlikely trend in books about math for the general public”, I might have chosen “brilliant meditations … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 8 Comments

Snowpocalypse 2015

Posted on January 27, 2015 by woit

For the last few days the media in New York have been filled with continuous frantic warnings of the deadly storm of the century bearing down on the city. Grocery stores have been emptied, with long lines of desperate people … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 39 Comments