Joe Polchinski's Memories

While Joseph Polchinski was dealing amongst a encephalon injury – this phrase [which is in all likelihood a misspelled "surgery"] sounds much nicer than the ugly C-word – he flora it an guild of magnitude to a greater extent than hard to work. Steve Shenker too Derek Westen get got noticed that Joe's writing was crisp too first-class too so he could create what a string theorist may e'er create fifty-fifty when he's temporarily reduced to 10% of his mental capacity – to choke a writer.

Polchinski only published these

Memories of a Theoretical Physicist

I sincerely wishing that amongst hindsight, the timing of these memories volition live on considered utterly non-essential!



If you lot start to read the memories, you lot volition realize that you lot get got already heard nigh the beginning. Joe Joe left his habitation inward Tucson, Arizona, for some Californian grass.




His paternal ancestors came to U.S. of A. some 1870 – from a reason betwixt Poland too Federal Republic of Federal Republic of Germany (the surname Polczynski is sure enough Polish, [it is a masculine adjective] pregnant "originating from Połczyno close Gdańsk") too from Ireland. His woman nurture ended upward every bit a High German American. Parents were unscientific (I know that background, too), Joey was keen on scientific discipline already every bit a kid. How too Why books, Sputnik, Asimov, advanced algebra, recreational chess (I would in all likelihood never brand it a higher house that level, either!), telescope.




Joe came to Caltech inward the early on 1970s too met 3 remarkable people, Richard Feynman, Kip Thorne, too Bill Zajc (yes, you lot know him from TRF). Bill has read Joe's memories too you lot tin larn a lot nigh him from Joe's memories. Security, pranks, Feynman, Thorne. Serious physics learning inward the sophomore year. QCD is beingness born at that time. Moving to Berkeley. Isidor Singer. Wife Dorothy. SLAC, Stanford, supersymmetry too its breaking, Susskind, D-terms.

Harvard, Mark Wise, Sidney Coleman, kids who run the circus, SUGRA, renormalization, monopoles, phenomenology. Austin, Weinberg, too the initiatory off superstring revolution explodes. In Summer 1988, Polchinski would "realize that he would never live on a nifty scientist". As you lot tin see, a big mistake! Fun amongst T-duality too the cosmological constant, Joe's students, from Austin to Santa Barbara. D-branes too orientifolds of the 1990s. Information loss, Strings 1995, D-branes.

Discretuum, anthropic stuff, innovation to get got no typos inward his book. Joe kindly says that I sent him at to the lowest degree 200 errata, I believe that the issue is only some 128. Proofs of finiteness of string theory. AdS/CFT. Matt Strassler too Raphael Bousso acquire exceptional sections. 21st century, later the destination of physics (1996). Centennial talks for founders of quantum mechanics. Cosmic strings may live on out there. Interactions amongst Lee Smolin. Bubbles of nothing, firewalls.

The annoying "brane" cancer diagnosis inward Dec 2015 – I knew nigh it amongst some vagueness too uncertainty. Please, Joe, never ever plow over up.

I scream back that those of you lot who are enthusiastic readers volition beloved Joe's memories.

Related to firewalls: Rik van Breukelen too Kyriakos Papadodimas get got released a novel newspaper Quantum teleportation through time-shifted AdS wormholes. They create double delineate deformations optimized for thermofield states shifted yesteryear an arbitrary fourth dimension translation, seek the polish connectedness betwixt ii CFTs, too thus the absence of firewalls inward this setup.