The sounds of science—a symphony for many instruments and voices: part II

Gerard T Hooft, William D. Phillips, Anton Zeilinger, Roland Allen, Jim Baggott, François R. Bouchet, Solange M.G. Cantanhede, Lázaro A.M. Castanedo, Ana María Cetto, Alan A. Coley, Bryan J. Dalton, Peyman Fahimi, Sharon Franks, Alex Frano, Edward S. Fry, Steven Goldfarb, Karlheinz Langanke, Chérif F. Matta, Dimitri Nanopoulos, Chad OrzelSam Patrick, Viraj A.A. Sanghai, Ivan K. Schuller, Oleg Shpyrko, Suzy Lidström (Corresponding author)

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

Abstract

Despite its amazing quantitative successes and contributions to revolutionary technologies, physics currently faces many unsolved mysteries ranging from the meaning of quantum mechanics to the nature of the dark energy that will determine the future of the Universe. It is clearly prohibitive for the general reader, and even the best informed physicists, to follow the vast number of technical papers published in the thousands of specialized journals. For this reason, we have asked the leading experts across many of the most important areas of physics to summarise their global assessment of some of the most important issues. In lieu of an extremely long abstract summarising the contents, we invite the reader to look at the section headings and their authors, and then to indulge in a feast of stimulating topics spanning the current frontiers of fundamental physics from ‘The Future of Physics’ by William D Phillips and ‘What characterises topological effects in physics?’ by Gerard ’t Hooft through the contributions of the widest imaginable range of world leaders in their respective areas. This paper is presented as a preface to exciting developments by senior and young scientists in the years that lie ahead, and a complement to the less authoritative popular accounts by journalists.
Original languageEnglish
Article number052501
Number of pages54
JournalPhysica Scripta
Volume99
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2024

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 103010 History of physics
  • 103004 Astrophysics
  • 103025 Quantum mechanics
  • 106006 Biophysics

Keywords

  • astrophysics
  • biophysics
  • dark energy
  • fundamental physics
  • high energy theory
  • information theory
  • quantum mechanics
  • quantum optics

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