Top Questions That Keep Physicists Awake at Night

By Nancy Atkinson - October 23, 2009 06:36 AM UTC | Physics

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

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com