Author Archives: woit

A Brilliant Darkness

Posted on November 14, 2009 by woit

Joao Magueijo has a new book out about Ettore Majorana, entitled A Brilliant Darkness. It’s a lot of fun to read, and could be described as an example of Gonzo history of science. While it contains a lot of factual … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 11 Comments

On the Defensive

Posted on November 13, 2009 by woit

There’s another article here about Michael Green succeeding Hawking as Lucasian chair. It emphasizes the idea that this is all about more funding for string theory: MICHAEL Green, the 18th holder of Cambridge University’s Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics, is clearly … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 16 Comments

A Line on String Theory

Posted on November 12, 2009 by woit

According to the Harvard Gazette, it seems that string theory predicts a very distinctive experimental signature that should be easily observable at the LHC. The claim is that string theory predicts that the LHC should produce stau particles, with a … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 27 Comments

Witten on J Street

Posted on November 11, 2009 by woit

The latest New York Review of Books (December 3 issue, not yet online) contains an article by Edward Witten entitled “The New J-Lobby for Peace”. It’s about J Street, an organization set up last year to lobby in Washington in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

In SUSY We Trust

Posted on November 11, 2009 by woit

New Scientist has an article in the latest issue entitled In SUSY we trust: What the LHC is really looking for, which promotes the idea that the LHC is going to discover supersymmetry. Only supersymmetry enthusiasts are quoted. I’d be … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments

Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships

Posted on November 9, 2009 by woit

The Simons Foundation will be funding new postdoctoral positions at various institutions starting next fall. Details of one of these, at the University of Texas, have been announced, with more to follow in coming weeks. These are three-year postdocs, with … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 40 Comments

News From NSF THY

Posted on November 5, 2009 by woit

A presentation at a recent SLAC Users Group meeting included some of the following data about NSF support for HEP theory: Theory funding (including cosmology and astro-particle physics) for FY 2008: \$11.68 million. For FY 2009, \$11.31 million + \$2.3 … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Latest from the LHC

Posted on November 3, 2009 by woit

The latest official news from CERN about the LHC schedule that I’ve seen is this from DG Rolf Heuer, who doesn’t give specific dates other than “second half of November” for circulating beams, collisions at injection energy soon thereafter, and, … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimental HEP News | 12 Comments

Perfect Rigor

Posted on October 30, 2009 by woit

I just finished reading author Masha Gessen’s new book about Grigori Perelman, Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century. It’s a short but very well done account of the life of Grigori Perelman, how he came … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 28 Comments

Short Mathematical Items

Posted on October 29, 2009 by woit

Riemann submitted his paper on the Riemann Hypothesis October 19, 1859, and it was read by Kummer at the meeting of the Berlin academy on November 3. AIM is organizing a celebration of the 150th birthday of the Riemann Hypothesis, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments