You have that one basic string, but it can vibrate in many ways. But we're trying to get a lot of particles because experimental physicists have discovered a lot of particles.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the complexity and variety within fundamental principles, particularly in the realm of physics.
Edward Witten highlights the idea that while there may be a basic foundational theory or string in physics, there are countless manifestations and variations of it, much like how a single string can vibrate in numerous ways. This reflects the rich diversity of particles that have been discovered and the ongoing exploration in theoretical physics that leads to new understandings.
In practice
In a science lecture discussing particle physics, you might quote this to describe the complexity of the subject.
Quantum mechanics brought an unexpected fuzziness into physics because of quantum uncertainty, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. String theory does so again because a point particle is replaced by a string, which is more spread out.
But the beauty of Einstein's equations, for example, is just as real to anyone who's experienced it as the beauty of music. We've learned in the 20th century that the equations that work have inner harmony.
I wouldn't have thought that a wrong theory should lead us to understand better the ordinary quantum field theories or to have new insights about the quantum states of black holes.
Regardless of any deviations, it was clear I was supposed to end up in math and physics.
Even before string theory, especially as physics developed in the 20th century, it turned out that the equations that really work in describing nature with the most generality and the greatest simplicity are very elegant and subtle.
It's an exaggeration to say that I came up with M-theory.
'Frankenstein' did not invent the fear of science; the novel found its audience because it dramatized anxieties that already existed. Although popular entertainment can, over the long run, shape public perceptions, it becomes popular in the first place only if it addresses preexisting hopes, fears, and fascinations.
If you don't get a good night's sleep, the events of the day are not properly encoded in memory.
A physicist is just an atom's way of looking at itself.
The image of Stephen Hawking - who has died aged 76 - in his motorised wheelchair, with head contorted slightly to one side and hands crossed over to work the controls, caught the public imagination as a true symbol of the triumph of mind over matter.
Where we have good, testable explanations, they then have to be tested, and we drop the ones that fail the tests.
It surprises me how disinterested we are today about things like physics, space, the universe and philosophy of our existence, our purpose, our final destination. Its a crazy world out there. Be curious.
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