Categories: Physics

Top Questions That Keep Physicists Awake at Night

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We all have things that keep us up at night, as we try to solve the problems in our lives. But just think of the poor physicists: They are trying to solve the problems of the Universe! At a recent physics conference at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada, a panel of scientists were asked what questions in physics kept them awake at night. Here are their answers:

Sean Carroll, Caltech
Why are the laws of physics the way they are?

Katherine Freese, University of Michigan
What is the universe made of?

Leo Kadanoff, University of Chicago
How does complexity develop in the universe?

Lawrence Krauss, Arizona State University
Have we come to the limits of our knowledge?

David Tong, Cambridge University
How will we ever know if string theory is correct?

Neil Turok, Director, Perimeter Institute
What happened at the singularity of the Big Bang?

Andrew White, University of Queensland
What is life?

Anton Zeilinger, University of Vienna
How far are we along the road of scientific discovery?

Gino Segrè from the University of Pennslyvania
He is concerned about the world not having enough young physicists to answer all those big questions that keep the rest of the panel awake.

Source: Physics World

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/

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