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\nWhy String Theory is Wrong\n

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\n\nPublisher:\n\nPBS\n\n\n
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\nThere’s this idea that beauty is a powerful guide to truth in the mathematics of physical theory. String theory is certainly beautiful in the eyes of many physicists. Beautiful enough to pursue even if it’s wrong? Hermann Weyl once said,...\nThere’s this idea that beauty is a powerful guide to truth in the mathematics of physical theory. String theory is certainly beautiful in the eyes of many physicists. Beautiful enough to pursue even if it’s wrong?

Hermann Weyl once said, “If I have to choose between beauty and truth, I choose beauty.” It was in reaction to a rebuke by Einstein. Weyl had tried to explain electromagnetism by imposing on Einstein’s general theory of relativity very first gauge symmetry, Weyl invariance. Einstein pointed out it the proposal led to some absurd results, and so the idea went down in flames. It just couldn’t be true, despite the elegance of the math. But sometimes it can be hard to let go of the sense that a beautiful theory must be right. Could this also be the case with string theory?\n
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Resource Details

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Not yet Rated
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Media Length
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15:10
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Grade
12th - Higher Ed
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Subjects
Science
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Media Type
Instructional Videos
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Source:
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\nPBS Space Time\n\n
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Date
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2018
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Language
English
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Audiences
For Teacher Use
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Fine Print: Educational Use
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Concepts

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space, quantum mechanics, time, electric charge, momentum, electromagnetism, radius, particles, outer space, astrobiology
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physics, astrophysics, space physics, pbs, space time, pbs space time, matt o’dowd, einstein, einsteinian physics, general relativity, special relativity, string theory, strings, superstring theory, extra dimension, 5th dimension, fundamental forces, wave cycles, string landscape, gauge symmetry, super gravity, compactified dimension, herman weil, choose beauty, string, number, theory, weil, choose, beauty, results, beautiful, versions, ways, sense
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