• Question: which theory is correct Loop quantum gravity or String theory?

    Asked by xenon to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 3 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      No theory is ever ‘correct’ but gives accurate predictions for well specified situations. Although mathematically elegant, string theory hasn’t made any predictions of note (of which I am aware at least) so hasn’t been an awful lot of use. Quantum gravity has a more robust history as far as I understand but doesn’t cover such a wide area of understanding.

      You never know, they may actually find something related to this at CERN?

    • Photo: Philippa Bird

      Philippa Bird answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      Done!

    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      I don’t think that anyone at the moment knows the answer to this question. If you managed to prove one or the other as being correct, I suspect that you’d get a Nobel prize for the work.

      The whole point of something being called a theory is that it’s not yet been proven without doubt. Once scientists have proven that something is correct beyond doubt, they call it a ‘Law’.

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