Re: [asa] physics nobels

The guiding principle seems to be that theoretical work has to be confirmed
by observations &/or experiments before it can be considered for a prize.
Of course what counts as "confirmation" leaves a lot of wiggle room.
Einstein got the prize not for relativity theory (either special or general)
but for his explanation of the photoelectric effect - which by then had been
verified by Millikan. (I.e., the equations resulting from Einstein's theory
agreed with Millikan's experimental results.)

In view of that, my answer to Merv's question, 'Can your last mark be
construed as "it isn't remotely close to *earning* a prize?" or did you
mean that more as "it isn't close to being considered despite its merits
towards consideration?"' would have to be the first option. I.e., we're
pretty far from having any experimental or observational data that agrees
with distinctive predictions of string theory. Similar things would have to
be said about Hawking's work - none of the theoretical ideas for which he's
well known, and especially black hole radiance, have had any observational
confirmation.

Of course it's no secret that some of the prize awards (& non-awards) have
been puzzling &/problematic. Why did Born have to wait till 1954 to get one
for his work on QM? & did Chamberlain & Segre really deserve one for
cranking up an accelerator high enough to make antiprotons, about whose
existence there was little theoretical doubt?

Shalom
George
http://home.roadrunner.com/~scitheologyglm

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ted Davis" <TDavis@messiah.edu>
To: "ASA list" <asa@calvin.edu>; "George Murphy" <GMURPHY10@neo.rr.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 1:24 PM
Subject: Re: [asa] physics nobels

> As you state, George, string theory and such is a long way from a Nobel
> Prize. Historically, experimentalists have been favored over
> theoreticians, in terms of getting prizes; and, theoreticians haven't
> gotten them -- so surprise -- until after their theories have been
> "confirmed" by solid observations. Theoreticians have still gotten them:
> Einstein never got any attention for laboratory work.
>
> Ted
>
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Received on Tue Oct 6 15:16:49 2009