Science and Engineering: Innovation, Research, Education and Economics
September 20, 2006
String Theory

image of book cover: The Trouble With Physics

String theory: Hanging on by a thread? by Dan Vergano:

String theory is on the ropes. After decades of prominence as the key to physics’ elusive “theory of everything,” challengers say the hypothesis is unraveling.

Why? Because there haven’t been experiments to prove it — and there don’t seem to be any on the horizon.

“The interplay with experiments is essential, and string theory just doesn’t have that,” says physicist Lee Smolin, author of The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of Science, and What Comes Next

Schwartz, one of the fathers of modern string theory, replies by e-mail that experiments will verify string theory in the future. The big question is how much energy an experiment would have to pound into a collision between particles to reveal strings, he adds. Many physicists hope that Europe’s Large Hadron Collider facility will offer some answers, starting in 2007.

Ultimately, Carroll says, “the only way for someone to kill string theory will be to come up with a better one.”

The The Elegant Universe:Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brain Greene is a great read.

Related: Science Books - PBS NOVA’s Elegant Universe site

4 Responses to “String Theory”

  1. Prize Says:

    Hay. I really want to get this book. Because I am also skeptical. FYI; I just love your site.

  2. Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » String Theory is Not Dead Says:

    Without the exact equations, our ability to describe these attributes with precision is limited, but the theory gives enough direction for the Large Hadron Collider, a gigantic particle accelerator now being built in Geneva and scheduled to begin full operation in 2008, to search for supporting evidence by the end of the decade…

  3. CuriousCat » New Theory of Everything Says:

    “An impoverished surfer has drawn up a new theory of the universe, seen by some as the Holy Grail of physics, which as received rave reviews from scientists…”

  4. Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » The State of Physics Says:

    [...] String Theory in Trouble - String Theory is Not Dead - Neutrino Detector Searching for String Theory Evidence by [...]

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