This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features an interview with the theoretical physicist Jim Gates who is at the University of Maryland and Brown University – both in the US.

He updates his theorist’s bucket list, which he first shared with Physics World back in 2014. This is a list of breakthroughs in physics that Gates would like to see happen before he dies.

One list item – the observation or gravitational waves – happened in 2015 and Gates explains the importance of the discovery. He also explains why the observation of gravitons, which are central to a theory of quantum gravity, is on his bucket list.

Quantum information

Gates is known for his work on supersymmetry and superstring theory, so it is not surprising that experimental evidence for those phenomena are on the bucket list. Gates also talks about a new item on his list that concerns the connections between quantum physics and information theory.

In this interview with Physics World’s Margaret Harris, Gates also reflects on how the current political upheaval in the US is affecting science and society – and what scientists can do ensure that the public has faith in science.