PODCAST · science

Center for Advanced Studies (CAS) Research Focus Foundations of Physics

by Center for Advanced Studies

Scientists work on achieving and establishing adequate accounts of physical phenomena, testing and improving our current theories, and at the same time extending them to new domains, pushing forward the frontier of knowledge. This is manifest. What is less apparent is that, in doing so, we are often called for a revision of the very foundations of our understanding of the physical world, the basic pillars of our knowledge. It may happen that the message we get from the frontiers of knowledge, in other words, is not just "we need to improve our theories" or "there is a bunch of new phenomena we did not know about"; rather, the message can be as radical as "the very basic concepts we have been using to categorize the world and on which all our theories, the whole of our knowledge, are based are faulty and need to be replaced".There is increasing evidence, from various corners of modern physics, that new foundations are now needed. Some such evidence comes from quantum gravity, the searc