Posted on 12/11/2006 8:47:40 AM PST by SunkenCiv
For many years, Ive been a big fan of string theory, also known as superstring theory. A year and a half ago, I discovered a fascinating television program on PBS Nova, The Elegant Universe, that changed the way I looked at life around me... The show was split into 3-1 hour segments, in which I only caught the last 2; I found myself frantically calling PBS to obtain the DVD. It was like no other science program that I had ever watched; It was creative, had stunning visual effects and examples, and kept my full attention throughout the entire 3 hours. Starting with the most simple explanations of gravity, electromagnetism, and relativity; The Elegant Universe takes you on a journey through the understanding of string theory.Lubos Motl: You can also see it separated to just 3 parts on video.google.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at physicstoday.org ...
This truely is a great series. He made it easy to understand so a math lamemon like myself could easily understand. Now he just needs to make another one about M theory ;)
M theory? D@#$, are the theories all the way up to M already? That's halfway to Z...
M theory is the combination of several versions of String Theory. About halfway through the video he brings this up. Bascially there were 3 or 4 String Theories that nobody could explain why each of them worked. It wasn't until a brillant mathematician came up with the idea that they were looking at String Theory in front of several mirrors, each with its own reflection of one common theory. That is what is now known as M Theory.
Yes, it's mirrors. Reflection symmetry. 11-dimensional with 32 symmetry dimensions. Nothing to it.
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