Re:The crisis in physics is not only about physics
by analog31 on Wednesday October 30, 2019 @09:19PM
(#21404797)
>>> particle physics is just harder now
This is something I've thought about. I'm a physicist, but am now happily working in industry. My job is to solve problems, and for most part I do, but it always seems possible that one fine day, someone will walk into my cubicle with a problem that I just can't solve. I'm always faced with the fact that I can't honestly predict how long the next problem will take. Maybe a day, maybe a week, maybe... forever?
Despite a string of successes, we never know for sure when physics will be hit with a problem that takes a decade, or a century, or even a millennium, to solve. As I understand the history, the ancient Greeks could formulate quadratic equations that they couldn't solve, and it wasn't until something like a millennium later that Al-Khwarizmi cracked it, at least for real roots. Now we teach it to children in middle school.
Finding a testable theory of quantum gravity might be the problem that takes a millennium.
This is something I've thought about. I'm a physicist, but am now happily working in industry. My job is to solve problems, and for most part I do, but it always seems possible that one fine day, someone will walk into my cubicle with a problem that I just can't solve. I'm always faced with the fact that I can't honestly predict how long the next problem will take. Maybe a day, maybe a week, maybe... forever?
Despite a string of successes, we never know for sure when physics will be hit with a problem that takes a decade, or a century, or even a millennium, to solve. As I understand the history, the ancient Greeks could formulate quadratic equations that they couldn't solve, and it wasn't until something like a millennium later that Al-Khwarizmi cracked it, at least for real roots. Now we teach it to children in middle school.
Finding a testable theory of quantum gravity might be the problem that takes a millennium.