“It is very possible that a proper understanding of string theory will make the space-time continuum melt away…. String theory is a miracle through and through.”

as quoted by K.C. Cole, "A Theory of Everything" New York Times Magazine (1987) Oct.18

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is very possible that a proper understanding of string theory will make the space-time continuum melt away…. String …" by Edward Witten?
Edward Witten photo
Edward Witten 20
American theoretical physicist 1951

Related quotes

David Gross photo
Edward Witten photo

“The only string theories we really understand well have exact supersymmetry.”

Michael Dine (1953) American physicist

Source: [Loose Ends: String Theory and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory, World Science Festival, 2 August 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSWd21z2qqE] (quote at 40:20 of 1:27:24)

Edward Witten photo
David Gross photo
Shiraz Minwalla photo

“With the string calculations to guide you can then correct these predictions. The corrected general expectations then apply to all quantum field theories, not just those very symmetric ones that string theory is able to analyse in detail.”

Shiraz Minwalla (1972) Indian physicist

Interview in The Hindu (2013)
Context: The improved understanding of the equations of hydrodynamics is general in nature; it applies to all quantum field theories, including those like quantum chromodynamics that are of interest to real world experiments. I think this is a good (though minor) example of the impact of string theory on experiments. At our current stage of understanding of string theory, we can effectively do calculations only in particularly simple — particularly symmetric — theories. But we are able to analyse these theories very completely; do the calculations completely correctly. We can then use these calculations to test various general predictions about the behaviour of all quantum field theories. These expectations sometimes turn out to be incorrect. With the string calculations to guide you can then correct these predictions. The corrected general expectations then apply to all quantum field theories, not just those very symmetric ones that string theory is able to analyse in detail.

Nathan Seiberg photo

“Supersymmetry arises naturally in string theory.”

Nathan Seiberg (1956) American physicist

It was originally motivated by string theory.
Source: [The World's Largest Experiment, 2013, https://www.sns.ias.edu/sites/default/files/World's_largest_experiment_%20Delhi.pdf] (public talk at Tryst, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi)

Vitruvius photo
Lee Smolin photo

Related topics