PHYSICS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

When Superstring Theory entered the arena of sub-atomic particle physics, with its first new milestone in 1984, its enthusiastic supporters proclaimed that ‘this would be the physics of the 21st century!’. That statement, of course, was in error by an amount of 16 years. However, today's physics does still have some of its roots in superstring theory and related topological constructions. The undisputed leader in the field is Edward Witten. He has introduced an impressive amount of mathematics into new theories of physics, and vice versa. Some of those theories are highly speculative and difficult to value; they may or may not survive this century. But, results from algebraic topology and other well-established corners of pure mathematics, are finding their way in physics, and they are likely to stay…