As a theoretician, I am proud to be part of a counter revolution... discovering that quantum field theory language was not dead and finished but had not really been explored thoroughly enough.
Interpretation
Quantum field theory is a vibrant field of study that still holds many discoveries.
In this quote, Peter Higgs reflects on his pride as a theoretician, emphasizing that quantum field theory, often perceived as completed, is instead a rich landscape that has yet to be fully explored. He advocates for a counter-revolution in science, suggesting that there are still many foundational insights to be uncovered in this field, highlighting the importance of continuous investigation and curiosity in scientific endeavors.
In practice
In a presentation on groundbreaking scientific discoveries, one could highlight Higgs' quote to illustrate the importance of exploration in theoretical physics.
The growth of our understanding of the world through science weakens some of the motivation which makes people believers. But that's not the same thing as saying they're incompatible. It's just that I think some of the traditional reasons for belief, going back thousands of years, are rather undermined.
When the basic status of a theory is clear, and all that needs to be cleared are details, you can collaborate. But if the main structure of a hypothesis isn't established, and you want to change the paradigm - like it was the case in the 1960s - it's better to work alone.
I was an embarrassment to the department when they did research assessment exercises. A message would go round the department: 'Please give a list of your recent publications.' And I would send back a statement: 'None.'
Something can be real - actually existing, not merely illusory - and yet not be fundamental. Scientists used to think that heat, for example, was a fluidlike substance called 'caloric' that flowed from hot objects to colder ones.
They [scientists of centuries past] call on God only from the lonely and precarious edge of incomprehension. Where they feel certain about their explanations, however, God gets hardly a mention.
Faced with the evidence, many deniers have started to admit that global warming is real, but argue that humans have little or nothing to do with it.
I have to keep going, as there are always people on my track. I have to publish my present work as rapidly as possible in order to keep in the race. The best sprinters in this road of investigation are Becquerel and the Curies.
As, pricked out with less and greater lights, between the poles of the universe, the Milky Way so gleameth white as to set very sages questioning.
Mathematics is a more powerful instrument of knowledge than any other that has been bequeathed to us by human agency.
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