Accessibility links
Physicists Debate the Merits of String Theory Is string theory the answer to the last big questions in physics, or a dead end? While some physicists believe that string theory could lead to a unifying theory, detractors say that string theory is sloppy and founded on unwarranted assumptions.

Science

Physicists Debate the Merits of String Theory

Heard on Talk of the Nation

Physicists Debate the Merits of String Theory

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5670911/5670912" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Is string theory the answer to the last big questions in physics, or a dead end? While some physicists believe that string theory could lead to a unifying theory, detractors say it's sloppy and founded on unwarranted assumptions.

Lee Smolin, author of The Trouble with Physics; faculty member, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos; professor of mathematics and physics, Columbia University