Lee Smolin
Lee Smolin | |
---|---|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics Cosmology |
Institutions | Perimeter Institute, University of Waterloo |
Doctoral advisor | Sidney Coleman Stanley Deser |
Lee Smolin (
Personal life
Smolin was born in New York City [3] to Michael Smolin, an environmental and process engineer and Pauline Smolin, a playwright. Smolin said his parents were Jewish followers of the Fourth Way, founded by George Gurdjieff, an Armenian mystic. Smolin described himself as Jewish.[4] His brother, David M. Smolin, became a professor at the Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama.[5]
Smolin dropped out of
Smolin has stayed involved with theatre becoming a scientific consultant for such plays as A Walk in the Woods by Lee Blessing, Background Interference by Drucilla Cornell, and Infinity by Hannah Moscovitch.[7]
Smolin is married to Dina Graser, a lawyer and urban policy consultant in Toronto, Ontario. He was previously married to Fotini Markopoulou-Kalamara.[8] His brother is law professor David M. Smolin.
Career
He held postdoctoral research positions at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, and the University of Chicago, before becoming a faculty member at Yale, Syracuse, and Pennsylvania State Universities. He was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1995[9] and a visiting professor at Imperial College London (1999-2001), before becoming one of the founding faculty members at the Perimeter Institute in 2001.
Theories and work
Loop quantum gravity
Smolin contributed to the theory of
Background independent approaches to string theory
Between 1999 and 2002, Smolin made several proposals to provide a fundamental formulation of string theory that does not depend on approximate descriptions involving classical background spacetime models.
Experimental tests of quantum gravity
Smolin is among those theorists who have proposed that the effects of quantum gravity can be experimentally probed by searching for modifications in special relativity detected in observations of high energy astrophysical phenomena, including very high energy cosmic rays and photons and neutrinos from gamma ray bursts. Among Smolin's contributions are the co-invention of doubly special relativity (with João Magueijo, independently of work by Giovanni Amelino-Camelia), and of relative locality (with Amelino-Camelia, Laurent Freidel, and Jerzy Kowalski-Glikman).
Foundations of quantum mechanics
Smolin has worked since the early 1980s on a series of proposals for hidden variables theories, which would be non-local deterministic theories which would give a precise description of individual quantum phenomena. In recent years, he has pioneered two new approaches to the interpretation of quantum mechanics suggested by his work on the reality of time, called the real ensemble interpretation and the principle of precedence.
Cosmological natural selection
Smolin's hypothesis of cosmological natural selection, also called the fecund universes theory, suggests that a process analogous to biological natural selection applies at the grandest of scales. Smolin published the idea in 1992 and summarized it in a book aimed at a lay audience called The Life of the Cosmos.
Black holes have a role in this natural selection. In fecund theory, a collapsing[clarification needed] black hole causes the emergence of a new universe on the "other side", whose fundamental constant parameters (masses of elementary particles, Planck constant, elementary charge, and so forth) may differ slightly from the universe where the black hole collapsed. Each universe gives rise to as many new universes — its "offspring" — as it has black holes, giving an evolutionary advantage to universes in which black holes are common, which are similar to our own. The theory thus explains why our universe appears "fine-tuned" for the emergence of life as we know it. Because the theory applies the evolutionary concepts of "reproduction", "mutation", and "selection" to universes, it is formally analogous to models of population biology.
When Smolin published the theory in 1992, he proposed as a prediction of his theory that no neutron star should exist with a mass of more than 1.6 times the mass of the sun.[citation needed] Later this figure was raised to two solar masses following more precise modeling of neutron star interiors by nuclear astrophysicists. Smolin also predicted that inflation, if true, must only be in its simplest form, governed by a single field and parameter.
Contributions to the philosophy of physics
Smolin has contributed to the philosophy of physics through a series of papers and books that advocate the relational, or
A book length exposition of Smolin's philosophical views appeared in April 2013. Time Reborn argues that physical science has made time unreal while, as Smolin insists, it is the most fundamental feature of reality: "Space may be an illusion, but time must be real" (p. 179). An adequate description according to him would give a Leibnizian universe: indiscernibles would not be admitted and every difference should correspond to some other difference, as the principle of sufficient reason would have it. A few months later a more concise text was made available in a paper with the title Temporal Naturalism.[11]
The Trouble with Physics
Smolin's 2006 book The Trouble with Physics explored the role of controversy and disagreement in the progress of science. It argued that science progresses fastest if the scientific community encourages the widest possible disagreement among trained and accredited professionals prior to the formation of consensus brought about by experimental confirmation of predictions of falsifiable theories. He proposed that this meant the fostering of diverse competing research programs, and that premature formation of paradigms not forced by experimental facts can slow the progress of science.
As a case study, The Trouble with Physics focused on the issue of the falsifiability of string theory due to the proposals that the anthropic principle be used to explain the properties of our universe in the context of the string landscape. The book was criticized by physicist Joseph Polchinski[12] and other string theorists.
In his earlier book Three Roads to Quantum Gravity (2002), Smolin stated that loop quantum gravity and string theory were essentially the same concept seen from different perspectives. In that book, he also favored the holographic principle. The Trouble with Physics, on the other hand, was strongly critical of the prominence of string theory in contemporary theoretical physics, which he believes has suppressed research in other promising approaches. Smolin suggests that string theory suffers from serious deficiencies and has an unhealthy near-monopoly in the particle theory community. He called for a diversity of approaches to quantum gravity, and argued that more attention should be paid to loop quantum gravity, an approach Smolin has devised. Finally, The Trouble with Physics is also broadly concerned with the role of controversy and the value of diverse approaches in the ethics and process of science.
In the same year that The Trouble with Physics was published, Peter Woit published Not Even Wrong, a book for nonspecialists whose conclusion was similar to Smolin's, namely that string theory was a fundamentally flawed research program.[13]
Views
Smolin's view on the nature of time:
More and more, I have the feeling that quantum theory and general relativity are both deeply wrong about the nature of time. It is not enough to combine them. There is a deeper problem, perhaps going back to the beginning of physics.[14]
Smolin does not believe that quantum mechanics is a "final theory":
I am convinced that quantum mechanics is not a final theory. I believe this because I have never encountered an interpretation of the present formulation of quantum mechanics that makes sense to me. I have studied most of them in depth and thought hard about them, and in the end I still can't make real sense of quantum theory as it stands.[15]
In a 2009 article, Smolin articulated the following philosophical views (the sentences in italics are quotations):
- There is only one universe. There are no others, nor is there anything isomorphic to it. Smolin denies the existence of a "timeless" isomorphic in every respect to the history of the entire universe, a notion more metaphysicalthan scientific.
- All that is real is real in a moment, which is a succession of moments. Anything that is true is true of the present moment. Not only is time real, but everything that is real is situated in time. Nothing exists timelessly.
- Everything that is real in a moment is a process of change leading to the next or future moments. Anything that is true is then a feature of a process in this process causing or implying future moments. This principle incorporates the notion that time is an aspect of causal relations. A reason for asserting it, is that anything that existed for just one moment, without causing or implying some aspect of the world at a future moment, would be gone in the next moment. Things that persist must be thought of as processes leading to newly changed processes. An atom at one moment is a process leading to a different or a changed atom at the next moment.
- Mathematics is derived from experience as a generalization of observed regularities, when time and particularity are removed. Under this heading, Smolin distances himself from mathematical platonism, and gives his reaction to Eugene Wigner's "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences".
Smolin views rejecting the idea of a creator as essential to cosmology on similar grounds to his objections against the multiverse.[16] He does not definitively exclude or reject religion or mysticism but rather believes that science should only deal with that of which is observable.[17] He also opposes the anthropic principle, which he claims "cannot help us to do science."[18]
He also advocates "principles for an open future" which he claims underlie the work of both healthy scientific communities and democratic societies: "(1) When rational argument from public evidence suffices to decide a question, it must be considered to be so decided. (2) When rational argument from public evidence does not suffice to decide a question, the community must encourage a diverse range of viewpoints and hypotheses consistent with a good-faith attempt to develop convincing public evidence." (Time Reborn p. 265.)
Lee Smolin has been a recurring guest on Through the Wormhole.
Awards and honors
Smolin was named as #21 on
Publications
- 1997. ISBN 0195126645
- 2001. ISBN 0-465-07835-4
- 2006. ISBN 978-0-618-55105-7
- 2013. ISBN 978-0547511726
- 2014. ISBN 978-1107074064
- 2019. ISBN 9781594206191
See also
References
- ^ "The Institute for Advanced Study. Annual Report 1979/80", p. 58
- ^ a b Smolin's faculty page Archived 2008-07-18 at the Wayback Machine, Perimeter Institute.
- ^ "Perimeter Institute Profile". Perimeter Institute. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
- ^ Dr. Brian Keating (May 6, 2021). Eric Weinstein & Lee Smolin: Judging Theories of Everything, ID, & UFOs 👽. YouTube. Event occurs at 1:03:52. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
- ^ "David Smolin's Cumberland School of Law Faculty Page". Samford University. Archived from the original on July 27, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
- ^ ISBN 9780143111160.
- ^ "Tarragon Theatre Profile". Tarragon Theatre. 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
- Nautilus (science magazine). Retrieved October 11, 2022.
- ^ "Institute for Advanced Study: Community of Scholars Profile". Institute for Advanced Study. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
- ISBN 978-1107074064
- ^ Smolin L., arXiv:1310.8539
- ^ Joseph Polchinski (2007) "All Strung Out?" Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine a review of The Trouble with Physics and Not Even Wrong, American Scientist 95(1):1.
- ISBN 0-224-07605-1.
- ^ Smolin, Lee. The Trouble With Physics, Houghton Mifflin Co, New York, 2006. (p. 256)
- ^ Smolin's response to the question "What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?" "World Question Center 2005: Lee Smolin" Archived 2008-05-12 at the Wayback Machine Edge
- Nation Books. p. 282.
- ^ smolin, lee (2000). Three Roads to Quantum Gravity. Basic Books. p. 1.
- ^ Scientific alternatives to the anthropic principle, July 2004
- Foreign Policy Magazine(June 27, 2008)
- ^ Brockman, John. "Introduction" to Kauffman, Stuart and Smolin, Lee. "A Possible Solution For The Problem Of Time In Quantum Cosmology" Archived 2019-01-01 at the Wayback Machine on Edge (April 7, 1997)
- ^ Announcement: First Prize for Dr. Marina Cortês, Dr. Lee Smolin The Universe as a Process of Unique Events, Phys. Rev. D 90, 084007 (2014)[1]
External links
- A partial list of Smolin's published work
- A debate of the merits of string theory between Smolin and National Public Radio(2006)
- "The Unique Universe Archived 2012-01-10 at the Wayback Machine": Smolin explains his skepticism re the multiverse (2009)
- Closer to the Truth: Series of interviews by Smolin on fundamental issues in physics
- "Time Reborn: a new theory of time - a new view of the world" on YouTube: Smolin's presentation at the Royal Society of Arts(2013)
- Lee Smolin at the Mathematics Genealogy Project