Albert Einstein is mostly known for physics theories. Or for E=mc2 (though he didn’t write it in that way). But his biggest contribution was the boldness, number, depth, diversity, originality and sometimes sheer courage of his ideas. Every one of these ideas was controversial at the time; now they underpin the world economy. What’s the […]
Breaking news: We are seeing a new Scientific Revolution. It will be the biggest ever. And I mean ever. Odds on it will be called “the Planck revolution”. Does German physicist Max Planck deserve this? I don’t think so. I think of it as the Riemann revolution. Readers know that more than 150 years ago […]
‘It is indeed an exacting requirement to have to ascribe physical reality to space in general, and especially to empty space.’ — Albert Einstein Most physicists work in a vacuum. That is, they tend to think in terms of particles in empty space. But both Albert Einstein and recent evidence say they are wrong: Far […]
Here is a mystery that needs help from armchair philosophers. Nowadays physics describes the world in terms of “fields”. What, then, is a field? It is weasel math that physicists invented to allow them to ignore the paradox of action at a distance. In the annals of thought the concept of action at a distance […]
Physics has an ongoing obsession with time. Some of the most important discoveries about time have been made with so-called thought experiments. Gedankenexperimenten, as Albert Einstein called them, have advantages. They need not be practical. They use no apparatus. Anyone can play. Many people have heard of the so-called twin paradox. It’s a Gedankenexperiment.You travel […]
There are billions of black holes in our universe. Maybe gazillions. Stephen Hawking says they give off a strange kind of radiation. So we should see them, right? Here’s a cosmological Catch-22. To set the scene, the Albert Einstein Institute says: ‘If, in our universe’s fiery youth, “mini black holes” of very little mass had […]
This week we take a look at a new telescope. It is called CHIME. Its design is unconventional, using cylinder-shaped antennae rather than dishes. There are five of them. Each has a parabolic shape to focus the signal. Construction of the 10,000 sq. m. array is now underway. First operation is set for next year. CHIME […]
Physics beat out chemistry to become the Senior Science in the second physics revolution starting around 1900. A hundred years ago this revolution held huge promise. Now historians of science call it the Unfinished Revolution. What went wrong? It is a strange but, in the end, illuminating five-part story. Part One: In 1851 mathematician Bernhard […]
In The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time Brazilian philosopher, Roberto Unger, and American physicist, Lee Smolin, team up to bring unruly mathematics and fanciful multiverses under control. They seek a renaissance of natural philosophy—ideas—as a driver of future physics. Let’s swing along with them. Central to their thesis is the idea of the […]