Edward Witten Quotes

There was a long history of speculation that in quantum gravity, unlike Einstein's classical theory, it might be possible for the topology of spacetime to change.

There is a difference between knowing what is true and knowing why it is true

We know a lot of things, but what we don't know is a lot more.

I have a tendency, more than most other physicists, to try to figure out everything all at once, before I publish. And even to try to figure out everything in my head, without pencil and paper.

Im actually, for the most part, a complete agnostic politically.

So when you ask me how string theory might be tested, I can tell you what's likely to happen at accelerators or some parts of the theory that are likely to be tested.

I have a much easier time imagining how we would understand the big bang, even though we can't do it yet, than I can imagine understanding consciousness.

As of now, string theorists have no explanation of why there are three large dimensions as well as time, and the other dimensions are microscopic. Proposals about that have been all over the map.

One very important aspect of string theory is definitely testable. That was the prediction of supersymmetry, which emerged from string theory in the early '70s.

String theory is an attempt at a deeper description of nature by thinking of an elementary particle not as a little point but as a little loop of vibrating string.

M stands for Magic, Mystery, or Matrixaccording to taste

The theory has to be interpreted that extra dimensions beyond the ordinary four dimensions the three spatial dimensions plus time are sufficiently small that they haven't been observed yet.

One of the basic things about a string is that it can vibrate in many different shapes or forms, which gives music its beauty.

1/r^2 has a nasty singularity at r=0, but it did not bother Newton-the Moon is far enough.

As far as extra dimensions are concerned, very tiny extra dimensions wouldn't be perceived in everyday life, just as atoms aren't: we see many atoms together but we don't see atoms individually.

It's indeed surprising that replacing the elementary particle with a string leads to such a big change in things. I'm tempted to say that it has to do with the fuzziness it introduces.

I wouldn't have thought that a wrong theory should lead us to understand better the ordinary quantum field theories or to have new insights about the quantum states of black holes.

You enter a completely new world where things aren't at all what you're used to.

String theory is 21 st century physics that fell accidentally into the 20th century.

Away from the safety of your home, the universe was not made for your convenience.

I don't care about movies. I tend to play badminton once a week.