Carlson (2006), James, and Arthur Jaffe & Andrew Wiles, x, Clay Mathematics Institute and American Mathematical Society 2006
1: The Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture: Andrew Wiles
2: The Hodge Conjecture: Pierre Deligne
3: The Existence and Smoothness of the Navier-Stokes Equation: Charles L Fefferman
4: The Poincare Conjecture: John Milnor
5: The P versus NP Problem: Stephen Cook
6: The Riemann Hypothesis: Enrico Bombieri
7: Quantum Yang-Mills Theory: Arthur Jaffe and Edward Whitten 
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Christie (1956), Agatha, Dead Man's Folly: A Hercule Poirot Mystery, Pan Books 1956 Jacket: A fete at a coutry house in Devon, and the well-known thriller writer Ariadne Oliver has organized a Treasure Hunt with a difference — a Murder Hunt.
But Mrs Oliver feels, unaccountably, that all is not well and she calls in that celebrated detective M.Hercule Poirot, ostensibly to give away the prizes.And her fears are justified when the 'body' is found — the corpse is very dead . . . 'back

Misner (1973), Charles W, and Kip S Thorne, John Archibald Wheeler, Gravitation, Freeman 1973 Jacket: 'Einstein's description of gravitation as curvature of spacetime led directly to that greatest of all predictions of his theory, that the universe itself is dynamic. Physics still has far to go to come to terms with this amazing fact and what it means for man and his relation to the universe. John Archibald Wheeler. . . . this is a book on Einstein's theory of gravity. . . . ' 
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Streater (2000), Raymond F, and Arthur S Wightman, PCT, Spin, Statistics and All That, Princeton University Press 2000 Amazon product description: 'PCT, Spin and Statistics, and All That is the classic summary of and introduction to the achievements of Axiomatic Quantum Field Theory. This theory gives precise mathematical responses to questions like: What is a quantized field? What are the physically indispensable attributes of a quantized field? Furthermore, Axiomatic Field Theory shows that a number of physically important predictions of quantum field theory are mathematical consequences of the axioms. Here Raymond Streater and Arthur Wightman treat only results that can be rigorously proved, and these are presented in an elegant style that makes them available to a broad range of physics and theoretical mathematics.' 
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Weinberg (1995), Steven, The Quantum Theory of Fields Volume I: Foundations, Cambridge University Press 1995 Jacket: 'After a brief historical outline, the book begins anew with the principles about which we are most certain, relativity and quantum mechanics, and then the properties of particles that follow from these principles. Quantum field theory then emerges from this as a natural consequence. The classic calculations of quantum electrodynamics are presented in a thoroughly modern way, showing the use of path integrals and dimensional regularization. The account of renormalization theory reflects the changes in our view of quantum field theory since the advent of effective field theories. The book's scope extends beyond quantum elelctrodynamics to elementary partricle physics and nuclear physics. It contains much original material, and is peppered with examples and insights drawn from the author's experience as a leader of elementary particle research. Problems are included at the end of each chapter. ' 
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Albert Einstein (1933), On the Method of Theoretical Physics: Herbert Spencer Lecture 1933, ' It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience. back

Albert Einstein (1934), University of Oxford - Herbet Spencer Lectures (1976), On the Method of Theoretical Physics Author(s): Albert Einstein Source: Philosophy of Science, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Apr., 1934), pp. 163-169 back

Andreea Frost (2024_09_13, Cosmology is at a tipping point – we may be on the verge of discovering new physics, ' For the past few years, a series of controversies have rocked the well-established field of cosmology. In a nutshell, the predictions of the standard model of the universe appear to be at odds with some recent observations. There are heated debates about whether these observations are biased, or whether the cosmological model, which predicts the structure and evolution of the entire universe, may need a rethink. Some even claim that cosmology is in crisis. Right now, we do not know which side will win. But excitingly, we are on the brink of finding that out. To be fair, controversies are just the normal course of the scientific method. And over many years, the standard cosmological model has had its share of them. This model suggests the universe is made up of 68.3% “dark energy” (an unknown substance that causes the universe’s expansion to accelerate), 26.8% dark matter (an unknown form of matter) and 4.9% ordinary atoms, very precisely measured from the cosmic microwave background – the afterglow of radiation from the Big Bang.' back

Barak Goodman & Jamila Ephron, Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation, back

Carlo Rovelli (2001), Notes for a brief history of quantum gravity, ' The century closes with two well developed contenders for a quantum theory of gravity: string theory and loop quantum gravity, as well as a set of intriguing novel new ideas that go from noncommutative geometry to the null surfaces formulation of GR, to the attempt to merge strings and loops. And even on a very optimistic note: the birth of a new line of research, the self-styled “quantum gravity phenomenology” which in- vestigates the possibility –perhaps not so far fetched– that Planck scale type measurements might be within reach. And thus that we could finally perhaps know which of the theoretical hypotheses, if any, make sense.' back

Daniel Angus (2014_09_13), A new law aims to tackle online lies – but it ignores expert advice and doesn’t go nearly far enough , ' The federal government this week introduced a new bill into parliament aimed at cracking down on the spread of misinformation and disinformation on the internet. The government also this week announced plans to ban young people from social media platforms and improve privacy protections. These moves have been criticised by experts, who say bans are ineffective, and privacy reforms fall short of what is required in the digital age. . . . The new version of the bill suggests the government listened to some expert recommendations from the consultation process, but ignored many others. . . . The bill also won’t cover mainstream media. This is a problem because some mainstream media outlets such as Sky News are prominent contributors to the spread of misinformation. Notably this has included climate change denial, which is a widespread and pressing problem. The bill does not include climate misinformation in its scope. This greatly diminishes its relevance in addressing the harm done by misinformation. This bill makes many of the same mistakes as the government’s other recent attempts to reduce online harms. It goes against expert advice and neglects important issues. As a result, it’s unlikely to achieve its goals.' back

Differential geometry - Wikipedia, Differential geometry - Wikipedia,the free encyclopedia, ' Differential geometry is a mathematical discipline that uses the techniques of differential calculus and integral calculus, as well as linear algebra and multilinear algebra, to study problems in geometry. The theory of plane and space curves and of surfaces in the three-dimensional Euclidean space formed the basis for development of differential geometry during the 18th century and the 19th century. Since the late 19th century, differential geometry has grown into a field concerned more generally with the geometric structures on differentiable manifolds.' back

Dirac equation - Wikipedia, Dirac equation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In particle physics, the Dirac equation is a relativistic wave equation derived by British physicist Paul Dirac in 1928. In its free form, or including electromagnetic interactions, it describes all spin-1⁄2 massive particles such as electrons and quarks, for which parity is a symmetry, and is consistent with both the principles of quantum mechanics and the theory of special relativity, and was the first theory to account fully for special relativity in the context of quantum mechanics. It accounted for the fine details of the hydrogen spectrum in a completely rigorous way.' back

Ian Duck and E.C.G. Sudarshan (1998), Toward an understanding of the spin-statistics theorem, 'We respond to a request from Neuenschwander for an elementary proof of the Spin-Statistics Theorem. First . . . Then we discuss an argument suggested by Sudarshan, which proves the theorem with a minimal set of requirements. . . . Motivated by our particular use of Lorentz invariance, if we are permitted to elevate the conclusion of flavour symmetry (which we explain in the text) to the status of a postulate, one could recast the proof without any relativistic assumptions, and this make it applicable even in the nonrelativistic context. . . . Finally, an argument starting with ordinary number-valued (nonmmuting), and with Grassman valued (anticommuting) operators, shows in a natural way that these relativitcally embed into Klein-Gordon spin-0 and Dirac spin-½ fields, respectively. In this way the Spin Statistics theorem is understood at the expense of admitting the existence of the simplest Grassman-valued field.' back

Jeffrey Nicholls (1987), A theory of Peace, ' The argument: I began to think about peace in a very practical way during the Viet Nam war. I was the right age to be called up. I was exempted because I was a clergyman, but despite the terrors that war held for me, I think I might have gone. It was my first whiff of the force of patriotism. To my amazement, it was strong enough to make even me face death.
In the Church, I became embroiled in a deeper war. Not a war between goodies and baddies, but the war between good and evil that lies at the heart of all human consciousness. Existence is a struggle. We need all the help we can get. Religion is part of that help and theology is the scientific foundation of religion.' back

John von Neumann (2014), Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, ' Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics by John von Neumann translated from the German by Robert T. Beyer (New Edition) edited by Nicholas A. Wheeler. Princeton UP Princeton & Oxford. Preface: ' This book is the realization of my long-held intention to someday use the resources of TEX to produce a more easily read version of Robert T. Beyer’s authorized English translation (Princeton University Press, 1955) of John von Neumann’s classic Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik (Springer, 1932).'This content downloaded from 129.127.145.240 on Sat, 30 May 2020 22:38:31 UTC back

Khushboo Razdan (2024_09_14), Will US law banning TikTok prevail on secret government evidence?, ' On July 28, the director of Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute posted a US Justice Department document on social media related to TikTok’s legal challenge against the company’s potential ban in the United States. “The Biden admin has finally told the DC Circuit why Americans can’t have access to TikTok,” wrote Jameel Jaffer, on X, formerly Twitter. The post comprised a page from a brief submitted to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, entirely obscured by black marking and unreadable. In a subsequent post, Jaffer quipped: “To be fair, not all of the brief is redacted. But the parts that aren’t redacted are no more persuasive than the parts that are.” The disclosure came months after the US Congress and President Joe Biden supported bipartisan legislation requiring TikTok, a Chinese-owned short-video platform used daily by 170 million Americans, to either secure a non-Chinese buyer by January 19, 2025, or face removal from stateside app stores and web-hosting services.rests.' back

Kristian Svennevig (2024_09_13), A rockslide-generated tsunami in a Greenland fjord rang Earth for 9 days, ' Climate change is increasingly predisposing polar regions to large landslides. Tsunamigenic landslides have occurred recently in Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat), but none have been reported from the eastern fjords. In September 2023, we detected the start of a 9-day-long, global 10.88-millihertz (92-second) monochromatic very-long-period (VLP) seismic signal, originating from East Greenland. In this study, we demonstrate how this event started with a glacial thinning–induced rock-ice avalanche of 25 × 106 cubic meters plunging into Dickson Fjord, triggering a 200-meter-high tsunami. Simulations show that the tsunami stabilized into a 7-meter-high long-duration seiche with a frequency (11.45 millihertz) and slow amplitude decay that were nearly identical to the seismic signal. An oscillating, fjord-transverse single force with a maximum amplitude of 5 × 1011 newtons reproduced the seismic amplitudes and their radiation pattern relative to the fjord, demonstrating how a seiche directly caused the 9-day-long seismic signal. Our findings highlight how climate change is causing cascading, hazardous feedbacks between the cryosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. back

Michael Hirschorn (2024_09_13), How a Naked Man on a Tropical Island Created Our Current Political Insanity, ' For those still struggling to understand how Donald Trump could remain within sight of being our president again despite flattering dictators, inspiring an attempted coup, getting convicted on 34 felony counts, vowing to shred the Constitution and imprison opponents, and decorating his bathroom with state secrets, not to mention blustering semi-coherently in Tuesday’s debate, it’s worth looking back to a certain island in the South Pacific, and a man named Richard Hatch. As a contestant on the first season of the CBS reality show “Survivor,” Mr. Hatch did something that, in the year 2000, seemed shocking. Instead of trying to win the show’s competition on its own terms — that is, voting in a straightforward manner on which of his fellow contestants most deserved to advance to the next round of competition — the often rude, sometimes randomly naked Mr. Hatch struck a strategic alliance to force out his strongest adversaries. Then, in full win-by-any-means-necessary mode, he outsmarted the producers by opting out of a key challenge and maneuvered himself to victory. But most shocking of all, he broke the golden rule of network television: You have to be likable. David Letterman even predicted “rioting in the streets” if “the fat naked guy” won. He was the most hated man in America.' back

On shell and off shell - Wikipedia, On shell and off shell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In physics, particularly in quantum field theory, configurations of a physical system that satisfy classical equations of motion are called on shell, and those that do not are called off shell. In quantum field theory, virtual particles are termed off shell because they do not satisfy the energy–momentum relation; real exchange particles do satisfy this relation and are termed on shell (mass shell). In classical mechanics for instance, in the action formulation, extremal solutions to the variational principle are on shell and the Euler–Lagrange equations give the on-shell equations. Noether's theorem regarding differentiable symmetries of physical action and conservation laws is another on-shell theorem.' back

Richard Kraut (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Plato, ' Plato (429–347 B.C.E.) is, by any reckoning, one of the most dazzling writers in the Western literary tradition and one of the most penetrating, wide-ranging, and influential authors in the history of philosophy. . . . Few other authors in the history of philosophy approximate him in depth and range: perhaps only Aristotle (who studied with him), Aquinas, and Kant would be generally agreed to be of the same rank.' back

Xianzhi Cao et al, Earth's tectonic and plate boundary evolution over 1.8 billion years, ' Abstract: Understanding the intricate relationships between the solid Earth and its surface systems in deep time necessitates comprehensive full-plate tectonic reconstructions that include evolving plate boundaries and oceanic plates. In particular, a tectonic reconstruction that spans multiple supercontinent cycles is important to 28 understand the long-term evolution of Earth's interior, surface environments and mineral resources. Here, we present a new full-plate tectonic reconstruction from 1.8 Ga to present that combines and refines three published models: one full-plate tectonic model spanning 1 Ga to present and two continental-drift models focused on the late Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic eras. Our model is constrained by geological and geophysical data, and presented as a relative plate motion model in a paleomagnetic reference frame. The model encompasses three supercontinents, Nuna (Columbia), Rodinia, and Gondwana/Pangea, and more than two complete supercontinent cycles, 36 covering ~40% of the Earth’s history. Our refinements to the base models are focused on times before 1.0 Ga, with minor changes for the Neoproterozoic. For times between 1.8 Ga and 1.0 Ga, the root mean square speeds for all plates generally range between 4 cm/yr and 7 cm/yr (despite short-term fast motion around 1.1 Ga), which 40 are kinematically consistent with post-Pangean plate tectonic constraints. The time span of the existence of Nuna is updated to between 1.6 Ga (1.65 Ga in the base model) and 1.46 Ga based on geological and paleomagnetic data. We follow the base models to leave Amazonia/West Africa separate from Nuna (as well as Western Australia, which only collides with the remnants of Nuna after initial break-up), and South China/India separate from Rodinia. Contrary to the concept of a "boring billion", our model reveals a dynamic geological history between 1.8 Ga and 0.8 Ga, characterized by events. The model is publicly accessible, providing a framework for future refinements and facilitating deep time studies of Earth's system. We suggest that the model can serve as a valuable working hypothesis, laying the groundwork for future hypothesis testing.' 52 Keywor back

Yasmin Curzi de Mendonça (2024_09_10), Elon Musk’s feud with Brazilian judge is much more than a personal spat − it’s about national sovereignty, freedom of speech and the rule of law, ' It is easy to get distracted by the barbs, swipes and bluster of the ongoing and very public spat between the world’s richest man and a fierce justice on Brazil’s highest court. Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, posts regularly of his contempt for Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes – a man Musk has labeled a “dictator” and “Brazil’s Darth Vader.” He makes these comments on a social media platform that Moraes has banned in Latin America’s most populous country as part of a lengthy campaign against disinformation. But as an expert on Brazilian digital law, I see this as more than just a bitter personal feud. X’s legal battle with Brazil’s Supreme Court raises important questions about platform regulation and how to combat disinformation while protecting free speech. And while the focus is on Brazil and Musk, it is a debate being echoed around the world.' back