Ed Witten, String Theory, and The Beauty of Numbers | Graham Farmelo (from 2021)

Join my mailing list https://briankeating.com/list to win a real 4 billion year old meteorite! All .edu emails in the USA 🇺🇸 will WIN! Is physics developing too slowly? Should we look to other sources of knowledge, such as modern mathematics, to explore the deepest mysteries of nature? In 2021, I had the honor of discussing this with one of my favorite writers, Graham Farmelo! Graham's book ‘The Universe Speaks in Numbers’ argues that there is no need to panic about the slow pace of theoretical physics. Graham Farmelo is an award-winning biographer and science writer. Based in London, he is a Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, and a regular visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. Graham was a lecturer in physics at the Open University from 1977-1990. Briefly, the youngest tenured academic in the UK. Quickly specialized as a teacher, chaired the team that produced the Science Foundation Course in the late 1980s and conceived its inter-disciplinary science course ‘Science Matters.’ Farmelo is the author of 'The Universe Speaks in Numbers,' published in May 2019. It explores the relationship between mathematics and the search for the laws of physics. It highlights the contributions of several theoretical physicists, natural philosophers, and mathematicians, notably Isaac Newton, Pierre-Simon Laplace, James Clerk Maxwell, Albert Einstein, and Paul Dirac. Farmelo's Dirac biography ‘The Strangest Man’ won the 2009 Costa Prize for Biography[1] and the 2009 'Los Angeles Times Science and Technology Book Prize'.[2] The book was chosen by Physics World as the Physics Book of the Year in 2009,[3] when it was selected as one of Nature’s books of the year. Farmelo's 2013 book 'Churchill's Bomb' focuses on Winston Churchill's role in British nuclear research 1939-53, with hitherto unpublished information on its influence by Churchill's science adviser Frederick Lindemann. The book emphasizes conflicts between scientific opportunity and political direction. Nuclear research was unique because it was the last topic added to the pool of American and British research in 1941-45, and the first was removed from that pool in 1943. Farmelo is critical of Churchill's wavering attention and changes in policy as he aged. Find him at his website https://grahamfarmelo.com/ Key Takeaways: 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:12 Do we need a theory of everything? 00:04:33 Fundamental Physics is a small part of the whole field 00:06:55 What is the mathematical language of the Universe? 00:10:10 The standard model works better than expected 00:16:21 Never say never! 00:17:04 Bridging Maxwell, Yang-Mills, and Chern-Simons and the view of Ed Witten 00:24:19 Is there a role for "beauty" in physics and math? 00:26:50 What rubric could be used to grade candidates for theories of everything? 00:32:22 How to break the standard model 00:38:41 Is string theory already falsified? 00:47:57 How do you engage young people to get inspired in physics today? 00:52:51 What mysteries are you currently most engaged with? 00:58:14 Discussing Nima Arkani-Hamed 01:06:40 Outro Additional resources: ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode! #intotheimpossible #briankeating #grahamfarmelo