Author Archives: woit

Weil Anima

Posted on February 10, 2026 by woit

Dustin Clausen is giving a course at the IHES starting today on “Weil Anima” (or maybe “Weil-Moore Anima”. They’ve already put up video of the talk here (also available on Youtube). For an earlier talk by Clausen on this material … Continue reading →

Posted in Langlands | 1 Comment

The Epstein Files

Posted on February 3, 2026 by woit

Like millions of people, I couldn’t stop myself from spending a fair amount of time recently doing searches here, where one can read endless emails, texts, etc. showing in detail what Jeffrey Epstein was up to over many years. I … Continue reading →

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Various and Sundry

Posted on January 27, 2026 by woit

For now, a math item and a physics item, maybe more later… Four years ago, after the decision to have the 2026 ICM in the US was announced, I wrote: With the 2022 experience in mind, hopefully the IMU will … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

The Situation at Columbia (and elsewhere) XXXVI

Posted on January 26, 2026 by woit

Since I’m today seeing some reasons for not being completely depressed about the future, locally and globally, some comments on the latest news. The Columbia trustees announced today the appointment of Jennifer Mnookin, the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, … Continue reading →

Posted in The Situation at Columbia | 8 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on January 14, 2026 by woit

The string theory hype machine will never die. This week we have Press releases from RPI and Northeastern tell us Scientists Use String Theory to Crack the Code of Natural Networks and How String Theory Helped Solve a Mystery of … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 33 Comments

Approaching 50 Years of String Theory

Posted on December 19, 2025 by woit

Brian Greene has a new video out today, of himself talking to Edward Witten, mainly about string theory. Pretty much the usual decades-old hype, with nothing even slightly different than what a similar conversation would have consisted of 20 years … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 10 Comments

Future Collider Update

Posted on December 18, 2025 by woit

Various news about a possible future collider, all pointing to the CERN FCC-ee as the leading proposal. For up to date background technical information on proposed colliders, including cost estimates, see here. The Chinese CEPC plan is now on hold, … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimental HEP News | 15 Comments

The Situation at Columbia XXXV

Posted on December 13, 2025 by woit

A quick update on what has been going on here at Columbia in recent months: The campus has been rather quiet this semester, about to get much more so as the semester ends and we go into winter break. The … Continue reading →

Posted in The Situation at Columbia | 16 Comments

Theoretical Physics Slop

Posted on December 9, 2025 by woit

In recent years I’ve been struggling with depressive thoughts whenever I think about what’s been going on in the field of fundamental theoretical physics research. As an example of what I find depressing, today I learned that the Harvard Physics … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 25 Comments

Whatever Happened to String Theory?

Posted on November 15, 2025 by woit

Gayoung Lee at Gizmodo today has responses to the question Whatever Happened to String Theory?. Carlo Rovelli and I give the obvious and accurate answer that it’s a failed idea, explaining why. The other answers exhibit the sad state of … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 53 Comments