Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything

[bananas]

Source: Telegraph

Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

An impoverished surfer has drawn up a new theory of the universe, seen by some as the Holy Grail of physics, which has received rave reviews from scientists.


The E8 pattern (left), Garrett Lisi surfing (middle) and out of the water (right)

Garrett Lisi, 39, has a doctorate but no university affiliation and spends most of the year surfing in Hawaii, where he has also been a hiking guide and bridge builder (when he slept in a jungle yurt).

In winter, he heads to the mountains near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where he snowboards. "Being poor sucks," Lisi says. "It's hard to figure out the secrets of the universe when you're trying to figure out where you and your girlfriend are going to sleep next month."

Despite this unusual career path, his proposal is remarkable because, by the arcane standards of particle physics, it does not require highly complex mathematics.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2007/11/14/scisurf114.xml

[Peace Patriot]

1. Yup, I figured that, when the Theory of Everything finally got thought by

somebody, he would be riding a surfboard in Hawaii.

Makes sense.

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"Lisi's inspiration lies in the most elegant and intricate shape known to mathematics, called E8 - a complex, eight-dimensional mathematical pattern with 248 points first found in 1887, but only fully understood by mathematicians this year after workings, that, if written out in tiny print, would cover an area the size of Manhattan.

"E8 encapsulates the symmetries of a geometric object that is 57-dimensional and is itself is 248-dimensional. Lisi says 'I think our universe is this beautiful shape.'

"What makes E8 so exciting is that Nature also seems to have embedded it at the heart of many bits of physics. One interpretation of why we have such a quirky list of fundamental particles is because they all result from different facets of the strange symmetries of E8.

"Lisi's breakthrough came when he noticed that some of the equations describing E8's structure matched his own. 'My brain exploded with the implications and the beauty of the thing,' he tells New Scientist. 'I thought: 'Holy crap, that's it!'

"What Lisi had realised was that he could find a way to place the various elementary particles and forces on E8's 248 points. What remained was 20 gaps which he filled with notional particles, for example those that some physicists predict to be associated with gravity." (MORE)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2007/11/14/scisurf114.xml

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And here's his article...

http://arxiv.org/abs/0711.0770

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And...oo-oo-oo-oo! CHECK THIS OUT! The larger image of this thing--E8--is truly, stunningly beautiful. The thumbnail above doesn't do it justice...

http://aimath.org/E8/mcmullen.html

Really. Go there. Take a look. I don't even begin to understand what this is all about, but the image is worth the trip.

[FormerOstrich]

3. Wow...

I am so ahead of my time.. I drew that with my spirograph when I was seven!

Well, it's all over my head (as you probably guessed by now) but it is very interesting!

[Bicoastal]

2. Describes self as "totally high" when he came up with it. n/t

[Lasher]

4. Moondoggie, is that you? n/t

[frankieT]

5. Beautiful ! Almost hermetical / esoteric work

[and-justice-for-all]

6. It is pretty...

But I highly doubt the Universe has a 'shape' and it most certainly is not in a fixed pattern, that would indicate design. Like 'ID', there is and probably never will be substancel evidence to support either 'ID' or a Universe with a fixed structure and form.

[Catch22Dem]

9. That's silly

Patterns occur in nature all the time. It doesn't mean the invisible man put them there.

[papau]

11. Silly conclusion either way - that there is - or that there isn't - a God.

[stevebreeze]

7. the theory of everything is spiro-graph?

[absyntheminded]

8. Whoa dude!

Drew that with my Kenner Spirograph when I was 7 - LOL!

No really, Cool story, Especially the larger pic of E8

http://cgi.ebay.com/UNOPENED-Vintage-1967-Kenner-Spirograph-401-MINT-NIB_W0QQitemZ230190370705QQihZ013QQcategoryZ19019QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[MethuenProgressive]

10. "Being poor sucks," Now, THAT could be the REAL theory of everything!

I'm just sayin'...

[bananas]

12. oops - I missed the earlier thread

with 184 replies: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2281653&mesg_id=2281653

[Maven]

13. I thought this was a headline from The Onion when I first read it.

Great article!

[smokey nj]

14. So did I!

[HughMoran]

15. I love reading about these theories

Thanks for posting...