Garrett Lisi - Articles - Zimbio

Surfer Dude Stuns Physicists

Wed, 15 Nov 2007 15:04:00 GMT

posted by hotcoffee76
Most people fortunate enough to goof off for a year or two after finishing their education and before assuming their respectable enslavement in the "real world" may want to obtain their Phd first. It would seem that if Garrett Lisi is any example, living as an impoverished nomad after you finish a Phd is the way to go (as if there is any choice but relative impoverishment for most people with Phd's anyway).

Check out this article that appeared in the U.K. Telegraph yesterday.

It appears between surfing and snowboarding Mr. Lisi, who holds a doctorate, found the time to concoct (yet another) mathematical theory of everything, in a simplified and elegant way.

Quote:
"Lee Smolin at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, describes Lisi's work as "fabulous". "It is one of the most compelling unification models I've seen in many, many years," he says."

Surfer dude may have found key to the universe

Wed, 15 Nov 2007 22:27:00 GMT

posted by billspaced
This is quite an astonishing story. Brilliance always seems to come out of the most unlikely places. I once knew a guy who had absolutely no knowledge of sub-atomic particles, yet he fully fleshed out a description of a quark in a Freshman physics class.

Needless to say, our professor was dumbfounded (this before the internet, where finding crap is easy).

At the very least, my friend knew how to look stuff up in the library, which in itself exhibits some sort of intelligence :)

He claims he didn't. He was just postulating.

Anyway, that is nothing near this. This "surfer dude" may have found the unifying theory for the entire physical universe.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Lisi's breakthrough came when he noticed that some of the equations describing E8's structure matched his own. "My brain exploded with the implications and the beauty of the thing," he tells New Scientist. "I thought: 'Holy crap, that's it!'"

But it's quite a story nevertheless.

I like that he might just say "dude" after every hypothesis.

Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything - Telegraph

Can the e8 shape help us find the "theory of everything"? Garrett Lisi thinks so.

Thu, 16 Nov 2007 00:39:08 GMT

posted by The_Zimbio_Team
Garrett Lisi has a PhD, but he isn't a master scientist living a life in academia. Instead, he's a surfer who works on physics problems on the side. But his latest theory is causing a stir in the physics community. He used the geometric shape known as E8 to tie together various physical theories and laws into one master theory.

"The theory is very young, and still in development," he told the press. "Right now, I'd assign a low (but not tiny) likelyhood to this..."

"For comparison, I think the chances are higher that LHC will see some of these particles than it is that the LHC will see superparticles, extra dimensions, or micro black holes as predicted by string theory. I hope to get more (and different) predictions, with more confidence, out of this E8 Theory over the next year, before the LHC comes online."

Welcome to our wikizine called "Garrett Lisi"

Thu, 16 Nov 2007 00:38:56 GMT

posted by The_Zimbio_Team
Wikizines are interactive magazines that anyone can create or edit - and this one is called "Garrett Lisi". Here you can find fresh voices and respond in real time. Some members write articles about recent news and trends related to the wikizine's topic, others recount relevant personal stories or share their favorite pictures and video clips. Got an interesting idea or story to share with other members of this wikizine? Well, then put on your journalist's cap and add your own article!