March 10, 2015 – String Theory? What’s that all about anyway. Sheldon Cooper used to study it, that’s about the extent of my knowledge.
“In the last few decades, string theory has emerged as the most promising candidate for a microscopic theory of gravity. And it is infinitely more ambitious than that: it attempts to provide a complete, unified, and consistent description of the fundamental structure of our universe. (For this reason it is sometimes, quite arrogantly, called a ‘Theory of Everything’).”
“The essential idea behind string theory is this: all of the different ‘fundamental ‘ particles of the Standard Model are really just different manifestations of one basic object: a string. How can that be? Well, we would ordinarily picture an electron, for instance, as a point with no internal structure. A point cannot do anything but move. But, if string theory is correct, then under an extremely powerful ‘microscope’ we would realize that the electron is not really a point, but a tiny loop of string. A string can do something aside from moving— it can oscillate in different ways. If it oscillates a certain way, then from a distance, unable to tell it is really a string, we see an electron. But if it oscillates some other way, well, then we call it a photon, or a quark, or a … you get the idea. So, if string theory is correct, the entire world is made of strings!”
Yeah, I have no idea what any of that means, I just copied it off some web page. I’m a biologist….not a physicist. The only reason I probably had the chance to become a biologist is that Mr. Nelson, my Physics prof in college, and who had known me since a child since we lived on the same street, took pity on my pathetic attempt to pass the class. One was supposed to have some mark to be allowed to take the second term, 55% or so… I missed the mark. I remember the conversation went something like….
“So Paige, what are your plans for the future?”
“I want to go into Biology….”
“So you don’t plan on pursuing Physics?”
“Clearly I do not have an aptitude for it…so …no. I just need to get through this course somehow.”
“OK, I’ll let you take the second term, but you are going to have to put more effort into it to get through it.”
“Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!!”
I never darkened his door after I clawed my way through that class…mathematics has never been my strong point…unless, as my Dad pointed out…there is a dollar sign in front of the numbers 😉
The only thing I did worse at was Calculus….but we won’t discuss that…..
This is just a ball of twine that I took when I cleaned out Mom’s house.
I have no rational explanation of why I took it, maybe because she always tied the packages she sent so artfully with twine, an art that seems lost today now that everything is secured with packing tape.
But I keep it, and it reminds me of her.
And every now and then I use a piece for some random purpose.
And I’m glad it’s there, for the memory and for its functional purpose.
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