Monthly Archives: March 2020

Philip Anderson 1923-2020

Posted on March 30, 2020 by woit

I heard this morning about the death yesterday of Philip Anderson, at the age of 96. It’s not hard to make the case that Anderson was the most important condensed matter theorist of the twentieth century, with a huge influence … Continue reading →

Posted in Obituaries | 12 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on March 25, 2020 by woit

Maybe it’s because people are at home with nothing else to do, but somehow the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be having the side-effect of generating new infections of “test of string theory” hype, a disease common many years back that … Continue reading →

Posted in Swampland, This Week's Hype | 8 Comments

Fourier Analysis Notes

Posted on March 23, 2020 by woit

This semester I’ve been teaching a course on Fourier Analysis, which has, like just about everything, been seriously disrupted by the COVID-19 situation. Several class sessions have been canceled, and future ones are supposed to resume online next week. To … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

This Week’s Hype

Posted on March 20, 2020 by woit

In this disturbing time of pandemic, it’s reassuring to see that some activities continue as usual. On the string theory hype front, yesterday NASA put out a press release announcing that Chandra Data Tests ‘Theory of Everything’, which starts by … Continue reading →

Posted in This Week's Hype | 3 Comments

Penrose at The Portal

Posted on March 6, 2020 by woit

Since last summer Eric Weinstein has been running a podcast entitled The Portal, featuring a wide range of unusual and provocative discussions. A couple have had a physics theme, including one with Garrett Lisi back in December. One that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments