Everything about Lee Smolin totally explained
Lee Smolin (born 1955 in
New York City) is an
American theoretical physicist, a researcher at the
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and an adjunct professor of
physics at the
University of Waterloo.
Smolin is best known for devising several different approaches to
quantum gravity, in particular
loop quantum gravity. He advocates that the two primary approaches to quantum gravity, loop quantum gravity and
string theory, can be reconciled as different aspects of the same underlying theory. His research interests also include
cosmology,
elementary particle theory, the foundations of
quantum mechanics, and
theoretical biology.
Smolin's most famous suggestion may be his theory of fecund universes, also known as cosmological natural selection, which attempts to apply principles of
biological evolution to
cosmology, suggesting that universes evolve in favor of the production of
black holes.
Leonard Susskind who now promotes a similar
cosmic landscape theory, stated:
"I'm not sure why Smolin's idea didn't attract much attention. I actually think it deserved far more than it got."
He writes many articles for the popular media, often promoting loop quantum gravity and attacking string theory.
Smolin also points out that
cosmic landscape isn't
Popper falsifiable if other worlds are not observable. There are then only two ways out: traversable
wormholes connecting the different parallel worlds and "signal nonlocality", as described by
Antony Valentini, a scientist at the Perimeter Institute.
Fecund Universes
The
fecund universes theory (also called
cosmological natural selection theory) of
cosmology advanced by Lee Smolin suggests that the rules of
biology apply on the grandest scales, and is often referred to as "cosmological natural selection". Smolin summarized the idea in a book aimed at a lay audience called
The Life of the Cosmos (ISBN 0-19-510837-X).
The theory surmises that a collapsing
black hole causes the emergence of a new universe on the "other side", whose fundamental constant parameters (
speed of light,
Planck length and so forth) may differ slightly from those of the universe where the black hole collapsed. Each universe therefore gives rise to as many new universes as it has black holes. Thus the theory contains the evolutionary ideas of "reproduction" and "mutation" of universes, but has no
direct analogue of
natural selection. However, given any universe that can produce black holes that successfully spawn new universes, it's possible that some number of those universes will reach
heat death with unsuccessful parameters. So, in a sense, fecundity cosmological natural selection is one where universes could die off before successfully reproducing, just as any
human can die without having children.
The Trouble with Physics
Smolin's 2006 book,
The Trouble with Physics, is broadly concerned with the role of controversy and diversity of approaches in the ethics and process of science. It is
strongly critical of
string theory and of its prominence in contemporary theoretical physics. He suggests both that there appear to be serious deficiencies in string theory and that string theory has an unhealthy near-monopoly in US fundamental physics, and that a diversity of approaches is needed. It argues that more attention should instead be paid to
loop quantum gravity, an approach to quantum gravity devised by Smolin.
The claims, many of which are controversial, that the book make include:
- that string theory makes no new testable predictions
- that there's no coherent mathematical formulation of string theory
- that it hasn't been mathematically proven to be finite
- that the proposal of a landscape of up to 10500 string vacuum solutions is tantamount to abandoning accepted science: » The scenario of many unobserved universes plays the same logical role as the scenario of an intelligent designer. Each provides an untestable hypothesis that, if true, makes something improbable seem quite probable.
The book also focuses on the difficulties faced by current efforts at theories of unification of physics and approaches to quantum gravity.
The publication of
The Trouble with Physics generated much controversy and debate about the merits of string theory, and the book was criticised by some leading physicists including string theorists
Joseph Polchinski and
Luboš Motl.
Views
Smolin has expressed the opinion that quantum mechanics isn't a "final theory".
» I am convinced that quantum mechanics isn't a final theory. I believe this because I've never encountered an interpretation of the present formulation of quantum mechanics that makes sense to me. I've 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.
Personal life
Smolin was educated at
Hampshire College and studied with noted physicist Herb Bernstein. He received his Ph.D from
Harvard University. He is married to
Dina Graser, a communications lawyer in Toronto.
Books by Smolin
The following books are relatively non-technical, and can be appreciated by those who are not physicists.
1999. The Life of the Cosmos
2001. Three Roads to Quantum Gravity
2006. The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-618-55105-7.Further Information
Get more info on 'Lee Smolin'.
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