Читать книгу String Theory For Dummies - Andrew Zimmerman Jones - Страница 56

String theory has suffered more setbacks than probably any other scientific theory in human history, but those hiccups don’t seem to last very long. Every time it seems that some flaw in the theory comes along, the mathematical resiliency of string theory seems to not only save it, but bring it back stronger than ever.

When extra dimensions came into the theory in the 1970s, string theory was abandoned by many, but it had a comeback in the first superstring revolution. It then turned out that there were five distinct versions of string theory, but a second superstring revolution was sparked by unifying them. When string theorists realized a vast number of solutions to string theories (each solution to string theory is called a vacuum, while many solutions are called vacua) were possible, they turned this into a virtue instead of a drawback.

Still, even after so many years, some scientists believe that string theory is failing at its goals. (See “Considering String Theory’s Setbacks” later in this chapter.)