The main problem with many nonscientific world models is the vigor with which they insist upon their rightness. Once a world model claims to be compl… - Frank Wilczek
" "The main problem with many nonscientific world models is the vigor with which they insist upon their rightness. Once a world model claims to be completely right, it is no longer open to any changes. ...Closed systems can be comforting, but they are limited. ...It's not the best we can do. Neither is extreme "open-mindednesss" that slides into "empty headedness"—the ideal that we can never really know anything.
About Frank Wilczek
Frank Anthony Wilczek (born May 15, 1951) is an American theoretical physicist, mathematician and Nobel laureate. He is the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Founding Director of T. D. Lee Institute and Chief Scientist at the Wilczek Quantum Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), distinguished professor at Arizona State University (ASU) and full professor at Stockholm University. Wilczek, along with David Gross and H. David Politzer, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004 "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction". In May 2022, he was awarded the Templeton Prize for his "investigations into the fundamental laws of nature, that has transformed our understanding of the forces that govern our universe and revealed an inspiring vision of a world that embodies mathematical beauty."
Also Known As
Related quotes. More quotes will automatically load as you scroll down, or you can use the load more buttons.
Additional quotes by Frank Wilczek
The possibility and significance of fractional angular momentum is discussed, and some simple physical realizations of it are mentioned. This leads naturally to consideration of the possibility of fractional quantum statistics, which is seen to be a possibility inherent in the kinematics of 2+1 dimensional quantum mechanics. Both sorts of fractionalization are intimately related to theories, and the classic considerations of Aharonov and Bohm on the significance of the vector potential in quantum mechanics. The meaning and importance of discrete gauge invariance in continuum theories is pointed out. Fractional statistics is shown to have a simple dynamical realization in the dynamics of charge-flux tube composites. Fractional statistics is shown to occur very naturally in the most geometrical quantum field theories in 2+1 dimensions, that is in the nonlinear sigma model and in quantum electrodynamics.
Limited Time Offer
Premium members can get their quote collection automatically imported into their Quotewise collections.
E = mc<sup>2</sup> really applies only to isolated bodies at rest. In general, when you have moving bodies, or interacting bodies, energy and mass aren't proportional. E = mc<sup>2</sup> simply doesn't apply. ...For moving bodies, the correct mass-energy equation is
<math>E=\frac {mc^2} {\sqrt{1-\frac{v^2} {c^2}}}</math>
where <math>v</math> is the velocity. For a body at rest <math>(v=0)</math>, this becomes E = mc<sup>2</sup>. ...we must consider the special case of particles with zero mass... examples include photons, color gluons, and gravitons. If we attempt to put m = 0 and <math>v</math> = c in our general mass-energy equation, both the numerator and denominator on the right-hand-side vanish, and we get the nonsensical relation E = 0/0. The correct result is that the energy of a photon can take any value. ...The energy E of a photon is proportional to the frequency f of the light it represents. ...they are related by the Planck-Einstein-Schrödinger equation E = hf, where h is Plank's constant.