Author Archives: woit

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

Characterising Science and Beyond

Posted on September 21, 2009 by woit

This week the Templeton Foundation is funding yet another conference on the Multiverse, this one is entitled Philosophy of Cosmology 2009: Characterising Science and Beyond. The conference is also celebrating the 70th birthday of Templeton Prize winner George Ellis. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 29 Comments

Various and Sundry

Posted on September 16, 2009 by woit

General Relativity and Gravitation has a special issue on quantum gravity, available here. Some out-takes from photographs taken for the recent Forbes article are here. You can see what part of my office looks like… I haven’t regularly been following … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 24 Comments