String theory gets knotted
Gordon Fraser · Physics World · 2006
"Not even wrong" was Wolfgang Pauli's ultimate put-down for any theory he considered wide of the mark. Here it is adopted by Peter Woit – a mathematician at Columbia University – and aimed at the rampant industry of string theory that has mushroomed in the past 20 years, covering elementary particle physics, cosmology and even consciousness. While it is easy to imagine the irascible Pauli's reaction to string theory, one wonders what he would have made of this book. Not Even Wrong emerged from Woit's popular blog of the same name (www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress), and has already sparked arguments. Woit relates how his manuscript was rejected as too controversial by Cambridge University Press, before finding a high-powered publisher with the help of Roger Penrose.