Author Archives: woit

Next Week’s Hype

Posted on May 14, 2015 by woit

I know I should be coming up with material on different topics here, but the multiverse stuff sometimes is just too hard to ignore. Next week’s Comicpalooza in Houston will feature string theorist Gerald Cleaver. His blurb tells us that: … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 28 Comments

Contested Boundaries

Posted on May 13, 2015 by woit

Apologies for too much recent posting here about the tired topic of the string wars. I hope to soon make amends by writing about something new I learned about geometric Langlands. The summer 2015 issue of Perspectives in Science has … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

About That Smoking Gun…

Posted on May 13, 2015 by woit

Aeon magazine has just published a long piece on the current state of cosmology by Ross Andersen. One focus is on Paul Steinhardt and his claims that the popular multiverse/eternal inflation scenario doesn’t explain what it is supposed to, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 33 Comments

The Admiral of the String Theory Wars

Posted on May 7, 2015 by woit

The science magazine Nautilus this month has a profile of me, under the title The Admiral of the String Theory Wars. The writer, Bob Henderson, spent a lot of time talking to me and other people around here, including attending … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 40 Comments

First Collisions of Run 2

Posted on May 5, 2015 by woit

This morning in Geneva saw the first collisions in the revamped LHC, there’s an event display from ATLAS here, CMS here. These collisions are just at the injection energy of 450 GeV/beam, but over the past few weeks beams have … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimental HEP News | Comments Off on First Collisions of Run 2

Einstein’s Dice and Schrödinger’s Cat

Posted on May 2, 2015 by woit

I’ve written a review for the Wall Street Journal of Paul Halpern’s new book Einstein’s Dice and Schrödinger’s Cat (It’s here, unfortunately now behind a paywall [commenter advice is try googling “The Half-life of physicists” and using the Google link]). … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 15 Comments

Dreams of a Final (or Better) Theory

Posted on May 1, 2015 by woit

John Horgan has an interesting interview with Steven Weinberg here. Weinberg isn’t very optimistic about possible progress these days: Horgan: In 1995 you told me that it’s a “terrible time for particle physics.” Are you feeling any better about your … Continue reading →

Posted in Multiverse Mania | 21 Comments

Things Have Changed

Posted on April 24, 2015 by woit

I’ve been busy with other things, but after taking a look today at various new things related to quantum gravity, I was struck by how much things have changed sociologically in that subject over the last few years. Back in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 59 Comments

The Lady Gaga of French Mathematicians Comes Stateside, and Other News

Posted on April 15, 2015 by woit

Cédric Villani is in town today, giving a talk at the French consulate. He’ll discuss his book, recently translated into English (I wrote a bit about it here). Yesterday, despite the lack of suitable bread and cheese, he was in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 25 Comments

LHC News

Posted on April 9, 2015 by woit

The LHC has just ramped up for the first time to 6.5 TeV, and has a probe beam circulating in one direction, the highest energy protons humans have ever accelerated. You can follow what’s happening here. The BBC has gotten … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments