Physicists Solve a Muon Mystery. Now, Old Results Don't Add Up
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Physicists Solve a Muon Mystery. Now, Old Results Don't Add Up
1–10 of 187 posts
Re: Physicists Solve a Muon Mystery. Now, Old Results Don't Add Up
#2That's the best part about science.
Re: Physicists Solve a Muon Mystery. Now, Old Results Don't Add Up
#3Glad I didn’t spend the last ten years on that problem! As my CERN advisor suggested :)
Re: Physicists Solve a Muon Mystery. Now, Old Results Don't Add Up
#4That's the best part about science.
I remember reading the Three Body Problem, and thinking to myself: this is implausible. If scientists started getting weird results, they'd be thrilled, not suicidal!
Re: Physicists Solve a Muon Mystery. Now, Old Results Don't Add Up
#5Re: Physicists Solve a Muon Mystery. Now, Old Results Don't Add Up
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
I remember reading the Three Body Problem, and thinking to myself: this is implausible. If scientists started getting weird results, they'd be thrilled , not suicidal!
The history of scientific revolutions does not support this view
How do you mean? I cannot remember any particular scientific revolution where scientists were suicidal, or even particularly crestfallen.
Quantum Mechanics is the closest thing I can think of, where Einstein famously refused to accept some of the implications, and where scientists had great disagreements about things like the Copenhagen interpretation and what it means for the actual nature of reality - but I don't think any of them were sad about it.
Re: Physicists Solve a Muon Mystery. Now, Old Results Don't Add Up
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
I remember reading the Three Body Problem, and thinking to myself: this is implausible. If scientists started getting weird results, they'd be thrilled , not suicidal!
The history of scientific revolutions does not support this view
Yeah. In principal, scientists should be excited by weird results. In practice, though, humans are complex creatures with intellectual and emotional inertia. There's an understandable element of dread when you realize your life's work finds itself on shaky ground.
Re: Physicists Solve a Muon Mystery. Now, Old Results Don't Add Up
#8That's the best part about science.
I remember reading the Three Body Problem, and thinking to myself: this is implausible. If scientists started getting weird results, they'd be thrilled , not suicidal!
well maybe depends how fundamental
if objects you put on a table started falling through the floor it would be a bit stressful
lol
but Dr. Becky gets really excited about all the various "crisis in cosmology" because she knows new science/knowledge will emerge from solving those questions
and you remind me there's another season coming up in that series, can't wait
"Is he still in the grandmother’s house? We would like to speak to him."
Re: Physicists Solve a Muon Mystery. Now, Old Results Don't Add Up
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
The history of scientific revolutions does not support this view
How do you mean? I cannot remember any particular scientific revolution where scientists were suicidal, or even particularly crestfallen. Quantum Mechanics is the closest thing I can think of, where Einstein famously refused to accept some of the implications, and where scientists had great disagreements about things like the Copenhagen interpretation and what it means for the actual nature of reality - but I don't t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Marshall had to drink a beaker of Helicobacter pylori because no one would believe it caused ulcers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis wound up in an insane asylum for suggesting surgeons should wash their hands.
Scientists get hidebound just like the rest of us, at times.
Re: Physicists Solve a Muon Mystery. Now, Old Results Don't Add Up
#10That's the best part about science.
I remember reading the Three Body Problem, and thinking to myself: this is implausible. If scientists started getting weird results, they'd be thrilled , not suicidal!
I believe the alien scientists were depressed by the guaranteed collapse of their civilization, not the difficulty of certain differential equations. So it's more like a doctor getting weird results while working on a cure for a pandemic.
Edit: oops, see the reply below... and my grumpy response. I seriously forgot about that entire plot point.