
String theory: Hanging on by a thread? by Dan Vergano:
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
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September 21st, 2006 at 10:31 am
Hay. I really want to get this book. Because I am also skeptical. FYI; I just love your site.
October 21st, 2006 at 11:14 am
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…
November 15th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
“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…”
December 17th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
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