RE: Ask a theoretical physicist turned teacher, lecturer and author
July 18, 2017 at 5:59 pm
(This post was last modified: July 18, 2017 at 5:59 pm by Alex K.)
(July 18, 2017 at 5:53 pm)Khemikal Wrote:(July 18, 2017 at 5:49 pm)Alex K Wrote: Great question. For the analogy to work, we are looking for someone who worked on unified field equations of some sort (in Maxwell's case, he unified the electric and magnetic effects and predicted the existence of EM waves), but also did pioneering work in other fields of physics (in Maxwell's case, statistical physics). Steve Weinberg comes to mind as the best candidate. He unified (more or less, a let peeve I won't go into here) the electromagnetic and weak force and predicted the Z boson, and he is very active in cosmology.
Awesome, as a follow up...do you have any possible practical applications based on Weinburg's work which are holding on funding and/or a person to market them to housewives? For example, a way for a parent of 4 to be in more than one place or state simultaneously?
Not quite yet because GeV scale accelerators are so big and expensive. But - with the perfection of wakefield accelerator technology in the coming decades, we *will* have tabletop Z boson generators, and believe me when I tell you that with a Z-ray cooked brisket on the table, your husband will fall in love with you all over again when he comes home from work.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
