Author Archives: woit

In Search of the Multiverse

Posted on October 12, 2009 by woit

The ongoing pseudo-scientific multiverse mania continues, with the recent publication in the UK of a new book by John Gribbin promoting this to the public: In Search of the Multiverse. Gribbin expounds at length the usual string theory anthropic landscape/multiverse … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 24 Comments

Witten on Analytic Continuation of Chern-Simons Theory

Posted on October 10, 2009 by woit

I was down in Princeton last Thursday, and attended a wonderful talk by Witten, which I’ll try and explain a little bit about here. Presumably within a rather short time he’ll have a paper out on the arXiv giving full … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Short News Items

Posted on October 9, 2009 by woit

Mathematician Jim Simons is retiring from the job of running the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies. Construction of the building for the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics is proceeding, with opening scheduled for next fall. An Algerian physicist associated with … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Sounds Familiar

Posted on October 8, 2009 by woit

From a recent blog posting by economist Brad DeLong, entitled The State of Economics in the 2000s Analogized…: But I think there also has to be an explanation in terms of the sociology of academic disciplines. And in that light, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments

Latest From the LHC

Posted on October 7, 2009 by woit

Things have been going fairly well at the LHC, with no major problems encountered recently as the machine is being prepared for operation. The last two sectors (34 and 67) are almost cool (see more about this here). Not mentioned … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimental HEP News | 8 Comments

Bourbaki Archives

Posted on October 2, 2009 by woit

I’d recently been wondering whether the archives of the Bourbaki group would be put on-line, and today noticed that there’s a project to do so, with results available here. One can read copies of “La Tribu”, internal reports on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 23 Comments

Mathematics and Religion

Posted on October 1, 2009 by woit

Unlike physics, mathematics has managed to remain immune from efforts to promote pseudo-scientific agendas, financed with the goal of mixing up science and religion. I don’t see any reason to believe this is going to change, but I just noticed … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 23 Comments

Investigating the Nature of Matter, Energy, Space and Time

Posted on September 29, 2009 by woit

On Thursday on Capitol Hill, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment of the Committee on Science and Technology will hold a hearing with the title Investigating the Nature of Matter, Energy, Space and Time. Witnesses will be Hugh Montgomery … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments

The Edge of Physics

Posted on September 24, 2009 by woit

Nature this week has two stories about the Perimeter Institute. There’s a long one entitled The edge of physics, which emphasizes Perimeter’s wealth and success, starting off: Working at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics comes with certain perquisites. Whenever … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 51 Comments

Media Commentary

Posted on September 24, 2009 by woit

Tonight will be the premiere of a new TV series called Flashforward, based on a novel with a plot that involves the Alice detector at CERN. CERN has put up a web-site about this, to reassure people that CERN isn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments