Author Archives: woit

The Anti-Science Movement

Posted on April 6, 2022 by woit

I noticed recently that Stony Brook is hosting next week a panel discussion devoted to a conversation about one of the most grave challenges to confront humanity: the anti-science movement. There is a truly grave challenge being referred to, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Fake Physics, Uncategorized | 42 Comments

Is Space-Time Really Doomed?

Posted on March 31, 2022 by woit

For many years now the consensus in a dominant part of the theoretical physics community has been that the center of attention should be on the problem of quantizing gravity, and that conventional notions of quantum theory and space-time geometry … Continue reading →

Posted in Euclidean Twistor Unification | 22 Comments

2022 Abel Prize to Dennis Sullivan

Posted on March 23, 2022 by woit

This year’s Abel Prize has gone to topologist Dennis Sullivan, for the announcement see here, with more information about Sullivan and his work here. There are press stories at Nature, the New York Times, Quanta, and elsewhere. Sullivan was one … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on 2022 Abel Prize to Dennis Sullivan

A Few Items

Posted on March 4, 2022 by woit

Some short items and links: Among possible futures that I never would have dreamed of during my student days was that someday my Nobel-prize-winning undergraduate advisor would “try to rile” my Nobel-prize-winning graduate school professor at a Bohr Centennial celebration … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 32 Comments

ICM 2022 and the Invasion of Ukraine

Posted on February 21, 2022 by woit

The news this evening that Russia is sending troops into the Eastern Ukraine and in effect announcing annexation of at least part of the Ukraine carries extremely disturbing implications for the whole world. On a much more minor scale of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 51 Comments

Seminar talk on Euclidean Twistor Unification and the Twistor P1

Posted on February 14, 2022 by woit

Today I gave a talk via Zoom at the Algebra, Particles and Quantum Theory seminar series organized by Nichol Furey. The slides from the talk are here (I gather the talk was recorded and video might be available at some … Continue reading →

Posted in Euclidean Twistor Unification | 17 Comments

This Way to the Universe

Posted on February 10, 2022 by woit

There’s a new popular book out this week by string theorist Michael Dine, This Way to the Universe, as well a a new Sean Carroll podcast interviewing him about the book and the state of particle theory research. According to … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Multiverse Mania | 9 Comments

Notes on the Twistor P1

Posted on January 29, 2022 by woit

I’ve just finished writing up some notes on what the twistor $P^1$ is and the various ways it shows up in mathematics.  The notes are available here, and may or may not get expanded at some point.  The rest of … Continue reading →

Posted in Euclidean Twistor Unification, Langlands | 8 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on January 21, 2022 by woit

For many years, editions here of This Week’s Hype were mainly devoted to bogus claims that someone had found a way to get a testable prediction out of string theory or other “evidence for string theory”. Recently there have been … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 30 Comments

Yet More Math and Physics Items

Posted on January 14, 2022 by woit

Various items that may be of interest: Robbert Dijkgraaf was sworn in a few days ago as Minister of Education, Culture and Science in the Dutch government. Unclear who if anyone is director of the IAS at the moment, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments