On this day in physics: 09 February 1953- Happy Birthday to String Theorist and popular Physics novelist Brian Greene who turns 53 today! Brian is one of the leading minds in string theory and has published several highly popular books on the topic, most notably The Elegant Universe and The Fabric Of The Cosmos.
Word of the Day: String Theory- Today's word of the day is an entire field of physics, although some may disagree At this point, its most popular flag bearer is our Birthday Boy, Dr. Brian Greene, who I think most people think of synonymously with the phrase String Theory. It is the closest thing we have to a "Theory of Everything", and it suggests that beyond quarks, strings are the fundamental unit of the universe. They are one dimensional objects, and how they vibrate turns them into up quarks, down quarks, neutrinos, et cetera. It further suggests that our universe is indeed a 26 dimensional one, with 20 of those dimensions curled into an infinitely small bundle, which is why they don't affect our every day life.
It sounds crazy, but the problem is it might be right. It explains an awful lot of things about our universe, and is also directly in line with the Standard Model of Physics. The other thing that String Theory really has going for it, is that it is able to show that Relativity and Quantum Mechanics are compatible, something the vast majority of theories are unable to reconcile. If it seems too good to be true, at the time of this writing, it definitely is. String Theory is as of yet unprovable, as we don't have the measuring devices to probe matter down to this level, or measuring devices which are sensitive enough to detect small anomalies over huge masses and areas (think galaxies or clusters of galaxies). It is a very exciting place to be in physics right now because this is red hot, the bleeding edge. If it's right, its creators and validators will have been on the cusp of probably the most profound theory of this century, quite possibly millennium, if it's wrong, it will be a major flop and blow to the physics community.
Quote of the Day: "Sometimes attaining the deepest familiarity with a question is our best substitute for actually having the answer." - Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe
Keywords: Brian Greene, String, Theory, Quantum, Mechanics, Dimensions.
