Nova - "The Elegant Universe: Welcome to the 11th Dimension"

[DMScott]

At one point, one of the scientists said something like, "Special Relativity has remarkable predictive ability. Nothing predicted by it has ever been contradicted by observation." My gamer mind is always tweaked by statements like that. It sounds like something out of Mage:TA, doesn't it? They saw exactly what they believed they would see! Heh.

Not really. You're assuming they believed or wanted to see results matching the theory. A large percentage of the time - perhaps even most of the time - a scientist really wants to see a deviation from theory. Observing the results predicted by special relativity shows that Einstein was smart - but observing something different, and working out the new theoretical models that explain the new observations, shows that the observing scientist is smart.

And in fact, that is what eventually happens for just about every model - it runs into some observations it can't explain, and some brilliant mind comes up with something new. And so science marches on.

 

[Mark Chance]

I was struck by comparisons of string resonance to symphonic music. As Beethoven observed, music is a higher form of revelation than philosophy. And, I mused, perhaps physics as well.

 

[Mark]

Nove - "The Elegant Universe: Welcome to the 11th Dimension"
(Episode #3014)

The successful unification of five different string theories into a single theory.

New Episode - Sorry for the short notice...

 

[Umbran]

Not really. You're assuming they believed or wanted to see results matching the theory. A large percentage of the time - perhaps even most of the time - a scientist really wants to see a deviation from theory.

Quite correct. And for those who don't believe DMScott on this - remember that experimental results that merely meet theoretical expectations are pretty boring. Experimenters don't generally earn a name for themselves by showing that someone else was right.

Very interesting program. I guess my problem is, looking at the world from the Einsteinian POV, I want to see energy and matter as separate and discrete components.

Depending how you look at it, that's really Newtonian, not Einsteinian. Remember, Einstein has E=mc^2. Einstein is what brings us the conversion of matter into energy, giving us the atomic and thermonuclear bombs...

 

[myrdden]

D'OH! I missed both.

It sounds like it was worth watching.

Myrdden

 

[MrFilthyIke]

D'OH! I missed both.

It sounds like it was worth watching.

Myrdden

What station would this be on in South Florida (if at all)? Anyone know how I could find out?

 

[physicscarp]

What station would this be on in South Florida (if at all)? Anyone know how I could find out?

Well, I don't know about South Florida, but you can go to the show website and watch the entire thing via streaming video. Here's the link

The Elegant Universe

I can't wait to drop this episode on my unsuspecting senior physics class. Those poor kids. Heh, heh.

Carp

 

[Dragonblade]

Whoa! Thanks for posting that!