So a trip to Cambridge to see Lee Smolin plug the new book -The Trouble with Physics
I am going to order the book from the Stakhanovites at Suffolk Libraries; well worth the council tax.
A very enjoyable evening with a strange ending
You can chase the ideas up in the book yourself, I gave up teaching physics years ago. He presents the problems facing fundamental physics clearly and concisely. A great communicator and how many Quantum Gravity Physicists (QGPs) can you say that about?
Also, some wonderful throw away lines.
"Given the fact that we know little or nothing about dark matter and dark energy we currently know nothing about 96% of the physical world."
On the debates between the foundationists and pragmatists in physics :-
"Shut up and calculate."
The 5 great problems in physics and the 3 roads to quantum gravity and the 29 parameters in the standard model (you did notice the prime numbers didn't you?) slightly unsettled me.
I was momentarily charmed by the idea, advanced by Leonard Susskind, that in order to investigate the structure of matter at the Plank Length you would need an atom smasher the size of the galaxy. Lee joked?
"Lenny says the galaxy but I would check his figures. It could be the solar system."
Ouch!
I was aware of a not so hidden agenda, which I throughly approve of.
"We should organise physics so that the young are free to wander off the path."
"We need surprise."
"Get it on the table"
My kind of QGP.
I headed to to the exit and stuffed notebook, camera, Grauniad Xwd, bottle of Water into bag and zipped up coat so as to feel the benefit. I was about to limp to the car when I was accosted by a yoof. Undoubtedly, he was a physics yoof! He asked me what my name was. Fatal. I asked why he wanted to know. He asked "Are you a Nobel Prize Winner or something?"
What the hell! Weird. I thought of the prime numbers. Time to go home.
Despite what du Sautoy says, stay away from those prime numbers!
