Althouse: "Is string theory right?/Is it just fantasy?/Caught in the landscape/Out of touch with reality..."

September 18, 2013

"Is string theory right?/Is it just fantasy?/Caught in the landscape/Out of touch with reality..."

"Tim Blais, a physics graduate student at McGill University, performs an a-capella version of his masters thesis to the tune of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody."

14 comments:

MadisonMan said...: Excellent. Didn't watch the whole thing though -- too long :)

I suspect this does not take the place of a written thesis, however. But it's an interesting teaching tool. He is a pretty good vocalist.; 9/18/13, 8:27 AM
2yellowdogs said...: OK, all of that was light years over my head, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. Sure hope he got his graduate degree.; 9/18/13, 8:55 AM
David said...: Bravo!

(And thanks, Althouse, for posting it.); 9/18/13, 8:59 AM
Mattman26 said...: I thought I'd watch for 30 seconds and move on. But I stuck around. Charming and fascinating.; 9/18/13, 9:55 AM
Jason said...: Brian May, Queen's guitarist, now holds a doctorate in astronomy. I think he'd be proud.; 9/18/13, 10:10 AM
Darrell said...: 10 dimensions? I thought some of the new physics requires 24 or 28 dimensions for it to be valid. NTTAWWT--assuming you can contort your mind to speculate what those dimensions may be.; 9/18/13, 10:49 AM
Anonymous said...: Vibrations create particles!

I absolutely enjoyed the heck out of this video, not one nanosecond was boring. It should be shown in every elementary science class as an introduction to physics. Great stuff!; 9/18/13, 11:02 AM
William said...: I wonder if it's possible to posit a possible universe where I understand string theory.; 9/18/13, 11:42 AM
Sam L. said...: Marvelous! Doesn't quantify my Physics major of osolong ago.; 9/18/13, 1:38 PM
lgv said...: I can't wait until he does his oral defense of his dissertation!

If he sings it perfectly, will he be OK to call himself a phD before getting the diploma?; 9/18/13, 1:56 PM
Johanna Lapp said...: The theme song for Big Bang Theory has been getting tired for years. This should replace it for the new season.

String theory is Sheldon's specialty.; 9/18/13, 2:26 PM
Edmund said...: String theory has one huge problem. Nobody has figured out a way to test most of them. I recall that there was a possibility that one of the formulations might be testable, but there was some controversy about that. (I used to be an astrophysicist, but it was before string theory was developed. The math in it is way beyond me.); 9/18/13, 3:04 PM
The Godfather said...: I grew up being interested in astronomy (inspired by reading sci-fi), and that lead to an interest in cosmology, and then to the opposite end of the scale, quantum physics. I don't remotely have the math to understand this stuff (I had to drop out of Calculus before I flunked), but it is fascinating to play with in your mind, and this guy has figured out an entertaining way to play with it.

In my lifetime we've gone from a universe that the intelligent layman could understand in a general way, to a universe that is incomprehensible to the intelligent layman. I wonder if that means that we must treat those who understand (or claim to understand) the universe the way primitive peoples treated shamans, and witch doctors and priests?; 9/18/13, 9:28 PM
Ironclad said...: This guy sings really well, and the video is well done. But I think he may be demanding a refund on some of his course material on how to calculate all the formulas that he sang about. It appears that a new multi-dimensional figure called an amplituhedron can be integrated to give answers to most particle probabilities in 1000th the time of normal calculations.

Amazing math, and maybe a lead on the real theory of everything. His String Theory has been called "not even wrong" by many physicists , since it can't compute anything.; 9/18/13, 10:50 PM