Theoretical Physics....?

Swango1980 said:
I watched the film, but it doesn't really stand out in my memory. I'm guessing it was as much a story about love and hardships due to his illness, as it was about his actual genius and discoveries. But, as I said, can't really remember, films like Independence Day and Terminator 2 live longer in my memory. To be fair, loads of groovy science in those films.
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Your summing up is quite right, imo, but I struggled to connect to any of the characters, they were just were not particularly likeable. That does make them dislikeable, I just could not warm to any of them. Always hard to enjoy a film when you don't bond with the main characters. What he and his wife went through with MND is incredibly hard, that came through but I felt no warmth towards them. The nearest comparison I have is The Imitation Game where the character was difficult but I wanted him to succeed and ultimately be happy (I wont say any more about the latter point just in case anyone is not aware and has not seen it yet) Whether that is down to the writing, acting or people themselves etc I don't know.

In terms of the science that was always going to be a tough sell. It is not a subject they can simplify too much, if at all, so that is one us non scientists just have to accept we will not get it. No groovy science to be seen unfortunately.
 
Lord Tyrion said:
Your summing up is quite right, imo, but I struggled to connect to any of the characters, they were just were not particularly likeable. That does make them dislikeable, I just could not warm to any of them. Always hard to enjoy a film when you don't bond with the main characters. What he and his wife went through with MND is incredibly hard, that came through but I felt no warmth towards them. The nearest comparison I have is The Imitation Game where the character was difficult but I wanted him to succeed and ultimately be happy (I wont say any more about the latter point just in case anyone is not aware and has not seen it yet) Whether that is down to the writing, acting or people themselves etc I don't know.

In terms of the science that was always going to be a tough sell. It is not a subject they can simplify too much, if at all, so that is one us non scientists just have to accept we will not get it. No groovy science to be seen unfortunately.
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Then you'll enjoy this "...while developing special relativity, Albert Einstein was concerned with the Lorentz transformation which left Maxwell's equations invariant, but was apparently uninterested in the Michelson–Morley experiment on Earth's drift through a luminiferous aether. " But when he went backwards (theoretically) when experimenting with photoelectrics (Experimental physics) to the models to explain the theory of why what happened, happened!!
 
Slightly off tangent here,but Kelfire mentioned Quantum computers...have read somewhere that the Chinese are so far ahead of the rest of the world in development of this field of science that they are suspected of having them up and running.
 
Ok full disclosure I’m a theoretical physicist in my day job having worked both in Universities and industry.

Theoretical physics covers a broad gamut of activities from very applied research to deeply fundamental research.

For example at the applied end I’ve been involved in understanding at the quantum level how materials respond when struck by light. Armed with this theoretical understanding we can design light detectors which switch on and off more quickly hence enabling higher data rates to be successfully transmitted down optical fibres. There are literally thousands of examples of theoretical physics advances have impacted real work technology in telecoms, health care, warfare etc etc. I hope everyone can see the value in that type of theoretical work. Mostly in this kind of work we are trying to work out the consequences of a well established theoretical framework for a specific application. For example for your GPS to work accurately you need to include the effects of (well known) General Relativity in inferring your location from the satellite timing signals.

Now the rub comes when you notice that not all theories are consistent with each other. For example quantum theory works great for tiny atoms and molecules, situations where gravity is not important. On the other hand General relativity works great for heavy galaxies and black holes where the quantum wave like behavior is not important. In 99.999999% of cases you never need to treat both the very heavy and the very tiny so one or other theory is all you need. However these exceptional case where you need both theories together are very intriguing e.g. around the time of the Big Bang the Universe was both very tiny (so you need quantum Mechanics ) and very heavy ( so you need General relativity). So you properly explain the Big Bang we need a consistent theory including both quantum and general relativistic effects – and no such theory exists.

Loosely speaking the “Hawking” type of theoretical work is trying to find new, more general descriptions which achieve this marriage. They are really searching for something very new and one approach is to simply try a lot of ideas which might achieve this consistency. They know that what they are doing is (very) educated speculation and informed trial and error but without the ability to do tests in a lab there is little else that can do.

Whether this type of work is a complete waste of (often) tax payers money one can debate. For sure there is always a debate amongst scientists trying to secure money for their pet-project about how project X or Y is a waste of money. One thing to remember is that theoretical research is pretty cheap compared to almost all other kinds of science. Pencils and computers cost a lot less that lasers, accelerators and other huge facilities!
 
drdel said:
Then you'll enjoy this "...while developing special relativity, Albert Einstein was concerned with the Lorentz transformation which left Maxwell's equations invariant, but was apparently uninterested in the Michelson–Morley experiment on Earth's drift through a luminiferous aether. " But when he went backwards (theoretically) when experimenting with photoelectrics (Experimental physics) to the models to explain the theory of why what happened, happened!!
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I don't think physics can get groovier than that ?
 
There is absolutely a place for theoretical physics, because that eventually becomes 'practical' engineering - which, generally, improves the 'lot' of our civilisation!

The simple existence of this forum is a practical example of how 'theoretical physics' has contributed to a 'better' society.

Without 'theoretical physics', we'd still be living (quite literally) in the dark ages!
 
toyboy54 said:
Slightly off tangent here,but Kelfire mentioned Quantum computers...have read somewhere that the Chinese are so far ahead of the rest of the world in development of this field of science that they are suspected of having them up and running.
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Quantum computers already exist at Google, IBM and in equivalent tech companies China. I suspect the story you're thinking of is a mis-interpretation of what "Quantum Supremacy" means. Google claim to have achieved Quantum Supremacy. China said they were close to Quantum Supremacy recently. All supremacy means is demonstration of a quantum computer that is capable of performing a calculation that a classical computer could not.

China are investing a lot money in quantum computing, possibly the most but they don't divulge funding so it's speculation. However so are lots of other countries and companies and none of them are close to winning a race yet. There is a lot of spin (ha! bad quantum physics pun) and bunkum flying around in the quantum computing information war, Google aren't entirely trustworthy on what they have or haven't achieved either so it all needs cautious interpretation.

We're a very very long way away from being able to have a conversation like this on a quantum computer. There's not even certainty in whether they will have much practical use outside of very specific numeric calculations. Governments go wobbly kneed at the promise of quantum computers because cryptography is one of those very specific numeric calculations they might get very good at doing.
 
Theoretical Physics may seem a playworld for scientific oddballs but it holds an important place in our journey to understand the workings of the universe. Our understanding and advancement relies on an interplay between theoretical and experimental Physics. Newton suggested he stood on the shoulders of giants that had laid the foundations for him to experiment and theoriorise upon.
We believe there are such phenomenon as Worm Holes and Dark Matter in the universe through theoretical physics and by the use of mathematical modeling and observation of phenomenon we presently cannot prove through experiment but they move our imagination and understanding onward.

Very good thread.
 
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IanG said:
For example at the applied end I’ve been involved in understanding at the quantum level how materials respond when struck by light. Armed with this theoretical understanding we can design light detectors which switch on and off more quickly hence enabling higher data rates to be successfully transmitted down optical fibres.
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Just being a bit nosy, did you collaborate at all with Sir David's dept at Southampton Uni?
 
Lord Tyrion said:
Do theoretical physicists actually produce work that advances mankind or is it purely, as the title suggests, theoretical and knowledge led.
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Quantum physics has led to digital technology. It works mainly off the Uncertainty Principle (Heisenberg).
Knowing about Black Holes has led to a greater understanding of the Universe. Hawking was a big contributor.
Einstein used his imagination to understand the true nature gravity (not being a force) from his own thought experiments. This has led the understanding of how everything in the Universe is interconnected.
Paul Dirac from Bristol theorized the existence of anti-matter which shortly after was then observed.
Quantum entanglement could yet prove the Universe is a hologram.
 
Leftie said:
Apparently, no cats were hurt whilst Schrödinger carried out his thought experiment.
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Schrödinger did not own a cat, but he did have a dog.

One day while driving he was stopped by the police and asked to open the boot of his car.
'Did you know there is a dead cat here?', asked the policeman.
He replied. I didn't know it was dead or alive until someone looked.
 
Theoretically, our entire universe is a fraction of an atom, of billions of atoms, making up a marble for huge aliens to play with (I think this was demonstrated in the ending of the film Men In Black?)

All we need to do now is prove that theory with experiments :)
 
stefanovic said:
Quantum physics has led to digital technology. It works mainly off the Uncertainty Principle (Heisenberg).
Knowing about Black Holes has led to a greater understanding of the Universe. Hawking was a big contributor.
Einstein used his imagination to understand the true nature gravity (not being a force) from his own thought experiments. This has led the understanding of how everything in the Universe is interconnected.
Paul Dirac from Bristol theorized the existence of anti-matter which shortly after was then observed.
Quantum entanglement could yet prove the Universe is a hologram.
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Some of this I get, some it still seems a bit 'so what'. What if the universe is a hologram for example, so what?

This thread is reminding me why I dropped physics at school as soon as I could, it hurts :LOL:
 
Lord Tyrion said:
Some of this I get, some it still seems a bit 'so what'. What if the universe is a hologram for example, so what?
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Should this be confirmed it could lead to as yet undreamed of technologies for the future.
Einstein's theory of gravity (General Relativity) has made predictions which have now been confirmed such as time ticking by differently depending on where you are and what speed you are going.
It also predicts worm holes which could get us where we want in the Universe should we know the actual shape of the Cosmos.
Holidays on the Andromeda Galaxy could be available soon.
 
stefanovic said:
Should this be confirmed it could lead to as yet undreamed of technologies for the future.
Einstein's theory of gravity (General Relativity) has made predictions which have now been confirmed such as time ticking by differently depending on where you are and what speed you are going.
It also predicts worm holes which could get us where we want in the Universe should we know the actual shape of the Cosmos.
Holidays on the Andromeda Galaxy could be available soon.
Click to expand...

I wonder how much Ryanair would charge you for a packet of Walker's crisps on a flight to the Andromeda Galaxy???
 
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