QuoteProject
We're going to need a definitive quantum theory of gravity, which is part of a grand unified theory - it's the main missing piece.
Kip Thorne
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

A complete understanding of gravity is essential for unifying physics into a comprehensive theory.

Kip Thorne emphasizes the necessity of developing a definitive quantum theory of gravity as a critical component for establishing a grand unified theory in physics. This implies that without a robust understanding of how gravity operates at quantum levels, the quest for a cohesive framework explaining all fundamental forces and particles remains incomplete.

Themes

QuantumGravityTheoryScienceUnification

In practice

Example use cases

In a physics seminar discussing the future of theoretical physics.

More from Kip Thorne

If you have somebody who's brilliant and highly creative with a different point of view than you have, and a very different intellectual background, great things can happen.
Kip ThorneRead
I think that the future of the human race is to spread through the universe, and now is the time that we should be laying the foundations for that.
Kip ThorneRead
Whether you can go back in time is held in the grip of the law of quantum gravity.
Kip ThorneRead
'Closed timelike curve' is the jargon for time travel. It means you go out, come back and meet yourself in the past.
Kip ThorneRead
If you think that the distance from the Earth to the nearest planet where we could live comfortably... is being, like, from New York to Australia... what we've achieved so far, in going to the moon, that's about two-and-a-half inches. So that's the challenge.
Kip ThorneRead
A big misconception is that a black hole is made of matter that has just been compacted to a very small size. That's not true. A black hole is made from warped space and time.
Kip ThorneRead

Similar quotes

Scientists surely have a special responsibility. It is their ideas that form the basis of new technology. They should not be indifferent to the fruits of their ideas. They should forgo experiments that are risky or unethical.
Martin ReesRead
Now that we can read and write the genetic code, put it in digital form and translate it back into synthesized life, it will be possible to speed up biological evolution to the pace of social evolution.
Craig VenterRead
But science is the great instrument of social change, all the greater because its object is not change but knowledge, and its silent appropriation of this dominant function, amid the din of political and religious strife, is the most vital of all the revolutions which have marked the development of modern civilisation.
Arthur BalfourRead
I had a feeling once about Mathematics - that I saw it all. Depth beyond depth was revealed to me - the Byss and Abyss. I saw - as one might see the transit of Venus or even the Lord Mayor's Show - a quantity passing through infinity and changing its sign from plus to minus. I saw exactly why it happened and why the tergiversation was inevitable but it was after dinner and I let it go.
Winston ChurchillRead
Science is nothing, but trained and organized common sense.
Thomas HuxleyRead
The human race may be the only intelligent beings in the galaxy.
Stephen HawkingRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.