Ed Witten

2009

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Ed Witten has no Nobel Prize.

Now tell me again how this era's physics just feels different because we are too close to it.

11:06 AM · Jul 30, 2009

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

So @orzelc asks me to unpack the No-Nobel/Witten tweet. It presupposes at least minor direct contact w/ Ed so you don't doubt Ed's gift.

12:31 PM · Jul 30, 2009

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

So @orzelc the Quetion is: "Is this likely the first era of fundamental physics that could produce a 55+ Witten nonlaureate?"

12:38 PM · Jul 30, 2009

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

My friend @orzelc asks: "do you consider Wheeler to be in Witten's class?" Short answer is no. But I never went 1-1 with a young Wheeler.

1:57 PM · Jul 30, 2009

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

In my whole life @orzelc, I have only had the pleasure to know one other person well who I regard as "in Witten's class". Is Singer.

2:03 PM · Jul 30, 2009

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

The nonphysicist disagrees w/ @orzelc. Wheeler lived through the whole build up of the Standard Model. Ed would have pounced repeatedly.

2:12 PM · Jul 30, 2009

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

To @orzelc: in your life you'll see Paris and the Taj Mahal. Make sure you meet all the great minds. Go see Ed. He's part human.

2:17 PM · Jul 30, 2009

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

There are three careers in modern physics of which I am envious. The other two are Yang and Dirac. In math: Singer, Witten, Attiyah, Bott...

5:05 AM · Sep 20, 2009

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

And what about Jim Simons? Other than Chern Simons he did amazing stuff. Wu-Yang ...and that holonomy theorem of Berger was first rate.

5:18 AM · Sep 20, 2009

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Anyone else appreciate that Jim Simons redoing Berger's list of holonomy groups to prove intrinsic sphere transitivity? An artist's theorem.

5:23 AM · Sep 20, 2009

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Someone else I admire: Dan Freed at Austin. Dan never gets all the credit he deserves. Every paper nails some loose end for the community.

5:29 AM · Sep 20, 2009

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

In Econ. Krugman is the master chef who can start with deadly pufferfish and dependably prepare elegant fugu thats safe to eat.

5:51 AM · Sep 20, 2009

2021

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Isadore Singer & Raoul Bott worked in almost exactly the same area. They collaborated with exactly the same people. They worked in adjacent zip codes (02138 vs 02139). They both had claims to the "greatest topological theorem" of the 20th century.

They never co-authored a paper.

10:11 PM · Feb 19, 2021

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

I've known only three minds personally who I'm convinced will be discussed 1000 years from now if humans survive: James Watson, Raoul Bott and Isadore Singer (I met Atiyah & Witten but did not know them).

Is & Raoul however both collaborated on my rescue in Graduate school.

10:11 PM · Feb 19, 2021

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Perhaps with both of these giants now gone it is time to tell my story. I'm not sure. I have never told it publicly in full. But they both are heroic men beyond being great minds.

Had they surmounted their personal difficulties their collaborations could have changed the world.

10:11 PM · Feb 19, 2021

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

They worked down the same street. I was at times a ping pong ball they sent back & forth between Building 2 at MIT & Harvard Science Center rm 508 (I think) along a 45 minute walk. I very much respected that they chose not to air any difficulties. They had respect for each other.

10:11 PM · Feb 19, 2021

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

One reason I largely kept quiet about my story is respect for both men. They both defended and believed in the system. But, in part they believed in it BECAUSE they were so powerful that they could act as an underground railroad when that system failed:

10:11 PM · Feb 19, 2021

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

So, in part, I'm their collaboration. Raoul was not my advisor. He had no real idea what I was doing. But he was far more than that. Is was my shtarker. My ace in the hole. They worked as a team to help me; their failure to talk directly was the main clue I had of anything amiss.

10:11 PM · Feb 19, 2021

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Lastly, there is the matter of my wedding. Is came to our event but I didn't invite Raoul. I did not understand what he had done for me. It is one of the biggest mistakes of my life. When the internet tries to insist to me that I am his student, I want to tell them what happend.

10:11 PM · Feb 19, 2021

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

The truth is that I would have been proud to be the student of Raoul Bott. I would have a storied lineage to claim.

The truth is Raoul gave me his name for a self-advised thesis. And like a fool I resented it. Yet how much greater is the man who lends his last name to a Bastard.

10:11 PM · Feb 19, 2021

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

In any event. I miss Is very much, but never expected to see him again. And I'm wrestling w the idea that I'm now free to tell my own story after 25yrs of saying very little in public. One of the reasons I don't take kindly to internet warfare is that I have large debts to pay.

10:11 PM · Feb 19, 2021

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

The more I subject myself to mindless politics, catfighting, shadowbanning & trolling, the harder it is to fight for others/myself and to pay the debts to the giants who rescued me along my way. I don't know how I'd have done w/o them.

But I needed to grow this voice to do it.

10:11 PM · Feb 19, 2021

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Lastly, I used to have a relationship to a very different @nytimes. Thus when I read Is' obituarty I was shocked to see @julierehmeyer's beautiful tribute including my own quotes on Is. It made me sad to think about how much has been lost. Sadly, those quotes came from long ago.

10:11 PM · Feb 19, 2021

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

If you haven't read her piece, I think it is quite moving even though it is no more than a sketch. End.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/science/isadore-singer-dead.html

10:11 PM · Feb 19, 2021

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

[Not to be crass: but I can usually tell within the 1st minute what is happening to the throttling of my tweets: this is not being widely seen. I'm trying to say something meaningful about a departed friend @jack. Could you please take a personal interest & stop the throttling?!]

10:16 PM · Feb 19, 2021

2023

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Related Pages

• Isadore Singer
• Quantum Gravity
• Raoul Bott
• String Theory