When Was String Theory First Formulated?

[jcsd]

How and from what was string theory first formulated? I have heard that it was somehow connected with the attempt to unify General relativity and electromagnetism by introducing a fifth dimension, but I know little about the logical process which gave rise to string theory.

 

[quartodeciman]

A string theory for the strong force (hadronics) came first.

String theorists talk fondly about the history of their subject. Here are two colloquium audio files with their overhead slides.

The Beginning of String Theory or: How Nature Deceived Us in the Sixties
Dr. Gabriele Veneziano, CERN/TH & KITP --->

http://online.itp.ucsb.edu/online/colloq/veneziano1/

Early History of String Theory: A Personal Perspective
Dr. John Schwarz, Caltech --->

http://online.itp.ucsb.edu/online/colloq/schwarz1/

 

[meteor]

I think that Ambitwistor made a typo; was in 1968 and not in 1986 when Veneziano proposed his formula: Veneziano's formula
In my notes I have that the first people that proposed string theory like a theory of unification of the 4 forces, a TOE, were Schwarz and Scherk in 1974