The 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics

azatht writes "The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2004 "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction" jointly to David J. Gross, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, H. David Politzer California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, USThe 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics, and Frank Wilczek Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA."

Comments

Well . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

This discovery cemented the theory of quantum chromodynamics, which describes the interactions of quarks and other subatomic particles inside the atomic nucleus.

It also filled a critical remaining gap in what physicists refer to as the Standard Model, the theory that governs physics at the microscopic scale. It accounts for the behavior of three out of nature's four fundamental forces - electromagnetism, the strong force and the weak force, which governs radioactive decay. Which brings us a few step forwards towards the answer of 42.

Well...

[Chaotic Evil Cleric]

... I'm glad to see freedom is alive SOMEWHERE.

Re:Where will this take us ?

[daveaitel]

Due to, ya know, quantum tunnelling and stuff, some of the atoms in your shorts are, kinda, in your mouth. So technically you already are.

-dave

That is the same as my girlfriend

[lcsjk]

"for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction" It's her way of saying you can approach freedom, but you will never quite get there. - not as long as I'm around.

Re:These guys need to get out more

[Anonymous Coward]

some lame Feymannian geek humor.

So these guys would be classified as uber-geeks, so geeky that other geeks get to make fun of them. Now that's a theory of relativity for you

ah yes, highbrow for a day

[Trepidity]

This is where we pretend we care about the nobel prize in physics for a day.

Now back to Linux.

Dr. P. is a Rap Singer Too

[MichaelCrawford]

David Politzer's name sure sounded familiar to me. Then I remembered:

Back when I was at CalTech in the early 80's (studying physics myself), a friend named Scott Lewicki, and his friend Doug Priest got David Politzer to record a rap song called The Simple Harmonic Oscillator Rap.

Google doesn't find me an MP3 of it, but the lyrics are in this PDF document. Search in the text of the document for "Politzer" and you'll find the lyrics.

You can purchase it on a CD called Physics Pholk Songs for $15.00.

Here's the first verse:

I want to talk today about things that shake,
And I hope my words aren't too opaque.
One degree of freedom moving to and fro,
Just how it moves, we'd like to know.
We can represent all kinds of things
By a single mass between ideal springs.
Each spring's connected to a wall.
So the outer ends don't move at all.

Enjoy!

What we see...

[writermike]

The physics person sees...

azatht writes "The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2004 "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction" jointly to David J. Gross, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, H. David Politzer California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, USThe 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics, and Frank Wilczek Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA."

The others see...

azatht writes "The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics ...(uuuhhh words, words, words, uh... blah).