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Originally Posted by WIKI It has been over ten years since M-Theory was first proposed by Ed Witten. When Witten named M-theory, he did not specify what the "M" stood for, presumably because he did not feel he had the right to name a theory which he had not been able to fully describe. |
How does it look over a decade further on!
The following 5 posts are taken from a lecture delivered at the
Kavli Institute for Theoritical Physics in January-1998 by Ed Witten on what appears to be a whiteboard, 10 years ago to the Month. The reason that I have put them into 5 posts is for coherant perusal, as they occupy over 50 web pages
here. Nothing has been changed ... There is no Maths and they are very easy to understand ... So if you would like to know a little about String Theory's place in Science... this will explain it ... greg
Duality, Spacetime and Quantum Mechanics
Intro: (January 1998)
In the last few years, physicists have learned that the different string theories discovered and studied in different ways are limiting cases of a single, more powerful theory, known as M theory. "M" stands for magic, mystery, or matrix, according to taste. Some of these developments will be explained in this lecture.
Edward Witten, professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., is arguably the premier theoretical physicist of our time. Renowned for his many contributions to particle physics and string theory, Witten has almost single-handedly constructed a new branch of mathematical physics For his achievements, he has been awarded mathematics' highest prize, the 1990 Fields Medal. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, he is a recipient of a MacArthur Prize, the Dirac Medal, and many other honors.