Ed Witten Interview

[sjastro]

Ed Witten has been described as Einstein's successor and the man who is intellectually far ahead of most of his peers.

He comes across as a humble man, but a communicator?
Dare I say Brian Cox would do a better job communicating to the masses.

http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1184753

Regards

Steven

[renormalised (Carl)]

Now, if Ed had Brian's flare for communication, that would be a brilliant combination. But you rarely find that in any scientist...genius and communicative flare. The problem with genius is that people like this tend to think about 10 steps ahead of where they're talking and they can't get the words out to express what they're thinking. Not unless they can compartmentalise what they're thinking and then convert it into spoken words quickly enough to get across what their thoughts are. Just means the conversation might sound a little broken up.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Isn't it funny how brilliance in certain fields runs in families....Ed's being no exception. I can't remember their name, but there's a Hungarian family who have been brilliant mathematicians for well over 300 years. They're also brilliant at physics as well.

[sjastro]

Originally Posted by renormalised

Now, if Ed had Brian's flare for communication, that would be a brilliant combination. But you rarely find that in any scientist...genius and communicative flare. The problem with genius is that people like this tend to think about 10 steps ahead of where they're talking and they can't get the words out to express what they're thinking. Not unless they can compartmentalise what they're thinking and then convert it into spoken words quickly enough to get across what their thoughts are. Just means the conversation might sound a little broken up.

I'm intrigued with what he says rather than how he says it.
Extra dimensions are easier to grasp than Quantum Field Theory and General Relativity. It says something about his mind.

Regards

Steven

[astroron (Ron)]

I would have loved to view that video, but wow it is so Huge
too much for my bandwidth
cheers

[sjastro]

Originally Posted by renormalised

Isn't it funny how brilliance in certain fields runs in families....Ed's being no exception. I can't remember their name, but there's a Hungarian family who have been brilliant mathematicians for well over 300 years. They're also brilliant at physics as well.

You might be referring to the Bernoulli family who were Swiss.
Two of them engaged in an on going battle with Newton.

Regards

Steven

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by sjastro

I'm intrigued with what he says rather than how he says it.
Extra dimensions are easier to grasp than Quantum Field Theory and General Relativity. It says something about his mind.

Regards

Steven

I'd say he can visualise, or at least see the equations of supersymmetry in his mind more readily than the pure maths of QFT and GR, even though he denies he can. Doing those equations is like playing with building blocks whereas supersymmetry and higher dimensions is like using play dough or putty. They're two different approaches to handling the maths.

[CraigS]

I've watched this video before.

I have no problems with what he said .. but there again … Ed and I have 'connection' !

Me master !!

Any problems I have in understanding what he's saying, are only because I have insufficient knowledge of the physics he's talking about. Ed's style is rapid fire, but that's because he knows what he's talking about !

Cheers

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by sjastro

You might be referring to the Bernoulli family who were Swiss.
Two of them engaged in an on going battle with Newton.

Regards

Steven

I do know of the Bernoulli's, but this family were Hungarian, not Swiss. I'll probably remember their name later on, or find them somewhere. They're still around, actually.

[CraigS]

Originally Posted by renormalised

Now, if Ed had Brian's flare for communication,

Carl,

C'mon man ..!!…

The two names just can't be used in the same sentence !

Do you mean Cox or Greene (I presume Cox).

Now, where is that cake of soap I just had ?

Cheers

[renormalised (Carl)]

Cox or Greene...doesn't matter

[CraigS]

Originally Posted by renormalised

Cox or Greene...doesn't matter

There is a huge difference !

Cheers

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by CraigS

There is a huge difference !

Cheers

Yeah, one of them knows how to dress properly and in clean clothes, to boot

[CraigS]

Originally Posted by renormalised

Yeah, one of them knows how to dress properly and in clean clothes, to boot

Howz about Sir Ed vs Cox … !! …

Hair .. teeth … rationalism … no "k's" following "g's" at the ends of sentences, no waxing lyrical .. straight down to business, is Sir Ed (the almighty).



Cheers