quantum gravity
Plus is very proud to present Professor Stephen Hawking's own Birthday Symposium address.
It is extraordinary to think that the diversity of the world we live in is based on a handful of elementary particles and a few fundamental forces. Peter Kalmus describes the combination of experimental and theoretical physics that has brought us to the understanding of today.
Over the last few years the words string theory have nudged their way into public consciousness. It's a theory of everything in which everything's made of strings — or something like that. But why strings? What do they do? Where did the idea come from and why do we need such a theory? David Berman has an equation-free introduction for beginners.
