Is String Theory a Reductionist Program of Everything?

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Tona: I took the point of view that string theory was not going to make an experimental prediction. And so, you know, it's disappointing, of course, that we haven't been able to make contact with experiment. But what has happened is teasers and inklings of how different the universe might be than what we imagine or our senses tell us. It could happen that some of these experimentalists are blowing our minds and our socks off every week. This would be even more amazing, you know? I'm not expecting that.

Quantum gravity research is inspired by experiment — all of the experimental data that supports quantum mechanics, and supports general relativity — but it’s only inspiration, not detailed guidance. So it’s easy to “do research on quantum gravity” and get lost in a world of toy models and mathematical abstraction. Today’s guest, Andrew Strominger, is a leading researcher in string theory and quantum gravity, and one who has always kept his eyes on the prize: connecting to the real world. We talk about the development of string theory, the puzzle of a positive cosmological constant, and how black holes and string theory can teach us about each other.

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Andrew Strominger received his Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently the Gwill E. York Professor of Physics at Harvard University. Among his awards are the Dirac Medal, the Klein Medal, the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

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