Book Review

The Trouble with

Physics:
The Rise of String Theory, the
Fall of a Science, and What
Comes Next
Reviewed by Brent Deschamp

The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String it stands or by inventing a new theory
Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes that does make sense.
Next
Lee Smolin Problem 3: Determine whether or not
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 the various particles and forces can be
US$26.00, 392 pages unified in a theory that explains them
ISBN 0-618-55105-0 all as the manifestation of a single,
fundamental entity.
The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String
Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next Problem 4: Explain how the values
is a book about the history of physics from Coper- of the free constants in the standard
nicus forward. It is also a book that discusses the model of particle physics take on the
current state of physics research, particularly the values they do in nature.
dominion that string theory holds over the field.
The author covers many diverse topics, and, while Problem 5: Explain dark matter and
the title singles out string theory, this is a book dark energy, or if they don’t exist, de-
about much more. termine how and why gravity is modi-
Smolin starts with the five great unanswered fied on large scales.
problems in physics today. I replicate them here Smolin goes into some detail about each prob-
as they appear in Chapter 1: lem, and with this background he walks the reader
through the amazing advances in physics since
Problem 1: Combine general relativity
Copernicus. His tour is guided by the idea that
and quantum theory into a single the-
physicists seek to unify both theories and objects
ory that can claim to be the complete
in an attempt to come to a better, and one hopes
theory of nature (known as quantum
simpler, understanding of the universe. Along the
gravity). way Smolin spends almost as much time on the
ideas that failed as on those that have survived.
Problem 2: Resolve the problems in the His reasons become clear later on, but at this point
foundations of quantum mechanics, in the book this emphasis shows the path great
either by making sense of the theory as minds with great ideas have traveled to bring us
to modern physics.
Brent Deschamp is professor of mathematics at California He begins with two failures. The first is that
State Polytechnic University, Pomona. His email address sound and light are instances of the same phe-
is [email protected]. nomenon, which led to the invention of aether,

990 Notices of the AMS Volume 54, Number 8

the substance through which sound and light were restriction that they minimize the surface area of
supposedly transmitted. He moves on to planetary the tubes they sweep out over time.
motion and the theory of circles circling circles, or String theory unifies all particles and all forces,
epicycles, and he even spends time talking about it connects to symmetry though the existence of
Kepler’s theory that the orbits of the five known gauge fields, it unifies the quantum and relativity,
planets were related to the five Platonic solids. and it reduces twenty basic free variables in the
With each theory he shows how it was disproved standard model to one variable in string theory. So
as experiment and evidence began to show oth- from the beginning it had great potential in that
erwise. it helped deal with two of the great problems in
He then shows some of the great unifications: physics (1 and 3).
Newton’s unification of motion and rest; Bruno’s String theory, unfortunately, first existed as
unification that the sun and stars are the same hundreds of versions of the same theory, though
thing; Faraday and the understanding that forces it was eventually whittled down to only five. At
and fields are the same; Maxwell’s unification of this point a revolution took place in the theory
electricity and magnetism; and Einstein’s double when Edward Witten gave a talk unifying all five
unifications, of space and time in special relativity, theories into a coherent theory, which he called
and acceleration and gravity in general relativity. M-Theory.
The presentation of these concepts is intended for To listen to string theorists talk to the public it
a general audience. Still, it is done in a manner so appears as if M-Theory is a solid, existent theory,
that for those of us who understand the concepts but Smolin points out that what Witten did is not
these descriptions are not boring. create a new theory but to point out some of the
Among the interesting side notes Smolin pres- features such a theory would have to have. This
ents during this discussion is a hypothesis that explanation was, to me personally, a great shock
arose after the unification of electricity and mag- since I had always believed M-Theory was a com-
plete theory. Smolin points out other aspects of
netism: it suggested magnetic lines might be
string theory where public perception does not
knotted in various ways and that each knot might
match reality.
be associated with a particular atom. Knowing if
The author also stumbles at this point in his
one knot was the same as another was suddenly
usual careful descriptions for the general public.
of great interest. The theory was wrong, but it led
He talks a great deal about “higher-order terms”
to the establishment of knot theory as a branch of
while never defining them. My assumption, given
mathematics. The book is filled with such intrigu-
his vague description of the mathematics, is that
ing side notes, and it is clear Smolin knows a great
he is trying to talk about convergence of series
deal about the history of physics.
solutions. Given my own confusion, I can only won-
Throughout these discussions Smolin points out
der at what a general audience might make of the
that each unification not only led to a better under-
following: He states that for string theory to work
standing but also raised new questions—questions the higher-order terms need to be finite and that
no one could have foreseen before the unification. their sum needs to be finite, too. It has been shown
Each of these led to testable hypotheses, and in that the first two terms in the sum are finite, and
that way the validity and usefulness of each theory many in string theory assumed the rest had been
was measured. shown to be finite as well. Smolin digs into the past
Smolin ends the first section of the book by de- papers on the subject and reveals this has not actu-
scribing the state of physics at the dawn of string ally been done in general, but in only one special
theory. This includes a nice discussion of basic case. Everyone, including Smolin, had assumed it
quantum theory, symmetry and spontaneous sym- had been done in general, so a key foundation of
metry breaking, along with the gauge principle and string theory seems to be incomplete.
the current search for the Higgs boson. He again Smolin’s other great complaint with string
delves into incorrect theories such as SU(5) and the theory is that it is background-dependent, in other
unsuccessful search for proton decay. His point is words, to begin with a theory of strings one first
that experiments in physics show the correctness/ fixes the background space in which the strings
incorrectness of theories. He also spends several live. Relativity, which string theory supposedly
chapters discussing supersymmetry, cosmology, unifies with the quantum, rests on the theory
supergravity, and quantum gravity theories. that space is not fixed, and so any theory that
Smolin now turns to string theory. He describes fixes space would not be consistent with other,
how it began as an ignored idea and slowly ex- accepted, theories.
panded into the theory that has dominated particle Further chapters look into the extra dimensions
physics for the last twenty years. He does a good that seem to come with string theory, the advent of
job of explaining the idea that everything is com- branes, string theory and black holes, cosmological
posed of small vibrating strings and that strings constants, dark energy, the anthropic principle,
propagate through time according to the simple and the relationship between supersymmetry and

September 2007 Notices of the AMS 991

 string theory. The final score is that string theory his field. But again, this doesn’t mean he dislikes
has potential for resolving Problem 3, it has made string theory.
progress on Problem 1, but it has failed when it How then, does Smolin really feel?
comes to the other problems. His point is this: he likes string theory, he’s
For this reason Smolin concludes string theory, worked in string theory, it’s come up with some
as the next great theory in physics, has failed. He good ideas, but it simply cannot be “the only game
also continuously reminds the reader that string in town”. The theory has its limitations, and he
theory has never produced results that are experi- feels the physics community is deluding itself by
mentally verifiable or falsifiable. The theory stands thinking string theory by itself is going to answer
outside the realm of experiment, and so as a theory the big questions.
of the universe it lacks testability and cannot be Smolin sees the problem two-fold:
seriously considered as a theory for physics. (1) Research in string theory is done differently
The next section is a tour of competing theories, from the research that produced the great theories
with all their strengths and weaknesses—my favor- that came before. Einstein and other visionaries
ite being: what if special relativity is wrong? Smolin were just that: they dared to see a world that had
also spends some time talking about his own pet never before been imagined. While string theory
theory, quantum-loop gravity, but it is given the started as a visionary idea, the last twenty years
same amount of space as the other theories. With have been spent in refining that idea, and technical
these competing theories Smolin is careful to point proficiency in computation has been valued more
out why they are testable—a reason they should than original thinking that might disagree with
be investigated considering the deficiencies of the party line.
string theory. (2) The current tenure system in the United
These three sections have taken nearly three- States has only exacerbated this problem. In order
quarters of the book, and it’s been good reading, to get tenure a physicist needs to have results
within five years. This means they cannot be
but now things get interesting.
spending those five years thinking outside of the
It’s been difficult to gauge how Smolin feels
box. They could be, but what if they don’t produce
about string theory up until this last section. He
anything by then? It’s a safer road to work in string
talks about great ideas and the beauty of string
theory.
theory, but he also is quick to tear it apart. Is this
Smolin documents numerous conversations
book for or against string theory? I would have
with people who feel this way, and he also points
guessed it was against it, and the next few chapters
out that even once they have tenure the people
would have confirmed this theory.
who may like to leave string theory really have no-
The first chapter in this last section describes
where to go. Grants go to string theorists, there’s a
working in physics under the reign of string
cultural pressure to continue in string theory, and
theory. It describes a world in which some people
time has already been invested in string-theoretic
whole-heartedly believe in string theory and some lines of thought.
people study string theory only because it is, as the Smolin would like to see more balance in his
oft-repeated expression holds, “the only game in field. He would like to see more than a vast sea
town”. Smolin points out, “In the last fifteen years, of technically proficient physicists (he calls them
there have been a total of three assistant profes- craftspeople) working on refining one theory; he
sors appointed to American research universities would like to see visionaries (he calls them seers)
who work on quantum gravity other than string who are allowed to dream big and are given the
theory, and these appointments were all to a single space and time and resources to do so without the
research group.” String theory has a stranglehold usual five-year deadline.
on the field, and Smolin believes this is wrong. What’s fascinating about this dream is that
This chapter also reveals a strange crack in Smolin actually identifies the people in the field,
the scientific veneer of the book. For a few pages who are, in his estimation, the seers physics needs.
Smolin whines, much like a kid in high school who The list includes Antony Valentini, Gerard ’t Hooft,
doesn’t understand why the “cool” kids won’t let Julian Barbour, and Roger Penrose. Some of them
him sit at their table in the cafeteria, and he also have shunned academia in order to find the time
describes a bizarre world that feels almost like and freedom to follow their own ideas (Barbour). Of
Invasion of the Body Snatchers—a world in which these some have actually had their work accepted
the vast majority of the field has been strangely by the community and now find themselves with
brainwashed and a lone few run, chased and per- jobs (Valentini), others continue to remain on the
secuted, holding onto the truth. fringe and still others have jobs but are taking risks
As strange as these pages were, and as out of with their careers for the future of their science
place as they felt, I’m slightly glad Smolin let down (’t Hooft and Penrose).
his guard, dropped the dispassionate scientific Smolin points out that the seers have always
mantra, and let us know how he really feels about been few in number, but he shows why his field

992 Notices of the AMS Volume 54, Number 8

 American Institute
needs them. He doesn’t promote redefining the
tenure system, but he does suggest finding room
for these people within the system and encourag-
ing them to follow their ideas. He offers a novel
criterion for evaluating such candidates: some
of Mathematics
people in the field should believe the candidate
has great potential, and some people should think
the candidate’s ideas are nonsense. In this way no
one group can control who is given a position of
this sort.
By the final page I realized Smolin likes string
theory; he thinks that it has as much potential as
any other theory to generate new ideas that will
promote our understanding of the universe, but as AIM, the American Institute of Mathematics, sponsors
a final theory he feels it has failed. For this reason week-long activities in all areas of the mathematical sciences
he feels that it should not dominate the field and with an emphasis on focused collaborative research.
that other theories should be given just as much
consideration and the room in which to explore.
Smolin’s book leaves the reader thinking long after
finishing the last page. And in my estimation, that Call for Proposals
is what a good book does.
Workshop Program
AIM invites proposals for its focused workshop
program. AIM’s workshops are distinguished by
their specific mathematical goals. This may involve
making progress on a significant unsolved problem
or examining the convergence of two distinct areas
of mathematics. Workshops are small in size, up to
32 people, to allow for close collaboration among the
participants.

SQuaREs Program
A mericAn m AthemAticAl S ociety
AIM also invites proposals for a new program called

Introducing SQuaREs, Structured Quartet Research Ensembles.

More long-term in nature, this program brings
the latest AMS Specialty Catalog together groups of four to eight researchers for 1-2
weeks of focused work on a specific research problem
in consecutive years.
History of
MatHeMatics More details are available at:
Valuable Perspectives http://www.aimath.org/research/
on Mathematics and
Influential Figures
in Its History

To view or print
this catalog, go to
www.ams.org/bookstore/newpubcatalogs.
AIM seeks to promote diversity in the research mathematics
community. We encourage proposals which include significant
participation of women, underrepresented minorities, junior scientists,
and researchers from primarily undergraduate institutions.

September 2007 Notices of the AMS 993