Is Ed Witten the "Greatest Theorist"?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the characterization of Ed Witten as potentially the "greatest theorist" in the field of theoretical physics, particularly in the context of string theory. Participants explore the validity of such a title, the criteria for evaluating theorists, and mention other prominent figures in various fields of physics.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses skepticism about the notion of a "greatest" theorist, suggesting that it is subjective and context-dependent, and questions the appropriateness of such a title in a general sense.
  • Another participant argues that the title of best living theorist varies by field, proposing Steve Weinberg for particle physics and Phil Anderson for condensed matter physics as more suitable candidates than Witten.
  • There is a humorous comment comparing Ed Witten's appearance to a character from Ghostbusters, which does not contribute to the main debate but adds a light-hearted tone.
  • Some participants suggest looking at Nobel laureates who are still active in research as a way to identify significant theorists, implying that public recognition may not reflect true contributions.
  • One participant acknowledges their lack of familiarity with Phil Anderson and expresses a willingness to learn more about him, indicating an openness to exploring different areas of theoretical physics.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the title of "greatest theorist." There are multiple competing views regarding who might hold such a title, with some advocating for Witten and others proposing different figures based on their contributions in specific fields.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights the subjective nature of evaluating contributions in theoretical physics and the potential biases in public recognition versus academic merit. There is also an acknowledgment of the varying significance of theorists across different subfields.

Elwin.Martin
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"Greatest Theorist"?

Alright, so I was reading through Ed Witten's wikipedia page since I knew he was big in String Theory, but I'm not really all that into Strings and didn't know to what extent. I'm reading the article and there's a quote out of an article in time [ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,994019,00.html ] about him being (generally) considered the greatest theorist in the world.

Now, I'm not trying to start any sort of flame against string theory or any sort of controversy like that, but I would think it kind of silly to talk about a "greatest" theorist in any context. From what I have heard (and I'll admit it is very little!) one could maybe discuss the most important theorist within a given field, but even that is going to be up for debate.

While I know that the article says generally, I'd like to know if anyone has any strong opinions about this. I personally believe that it's unlikely for anyone person to have that title, though people may have personal favorites, and that it was (probably) wrong to put that in Time. Though, I cannot say for sure since as I mentioned before, I'm not all that familiar with him.

In general though, it would be nice an undergraduate looking at graduate school to know who the "big names" are in my field (probably HEP) so if anyone knows anyone else worth looking into who is considered a big name and is still publishing, I'd like to look into them. I've seen estimates that the HEP community is anywhere from 1000-3000 people depending on how you count graduate students, postdocs, emeritus etc.

Out of curiosity, does anyone have any favorites in terms of prolific scientific contribution?
 
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Ya, that's just dumb. At least they didn't say someone like Garrett Lisi or Brian Greene or Stephen Hawking.

Best living theorist depends on the field but I'd say:
-Particle physics: Steve Weinberg (literally wrote the book on quantum field theory and the standard model)
-Condensed Matter Physics: Phil Anderson (literally wrote the book on condensed matter)

I dunno, just look through the list of Nobel laureats, find the ones that are theorists and still alive and WHAM you've got a better candidate then anyone on the public's/time magazine's radar.
 
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Ed Witten looks uncannily like Egon Spengler in the Ghostbusters (played by Harold Ramis). :biggrin:
 


maverick_starstrider said:
Ya, that's just dumb. At least they didn't say someone like Garrett Lisi or Brian Greene or Stephen Hawking.

Best living theorist depends on the field but I'd say:
-Particle physics: Steve Weinberg (literally wrote the book on quantum field theory and the standard model)
-Condensed Matter Physics: Phil Anderson (literally wrote the book on condensed matter)

I dunno, just look through the list of Nobel laureats, find the ones that are theorists and still alive and WHAM you've got a better candidate then anyone on the public's/time magazine's radar.

Haha, will do. I suppose that the living Nobel laureates are probably still pretty good, though I'm not sure that they're all still publishing.

Weinberg is a boss, I have his QFT vol I and Gravitation texts.

I don't know anything about Phil Anderson, so I guess I'll have to look into that. Condensed Matter isn't really my thing.
 

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