Theoretical physics – like sex, but with no need to experiment
Monday, November 4, 2013 - 08:00
in Physics & Chemistry
There are not many professions where people routinely ask you to justify your work, but theoretical physics one of them. In the wake of the recent Nobel Prize to Peter Higgs and François Englert for their research on the Higgs Boson, this scrutiny has intensified. Richard Feynman once quipped, "Physics is like sex. Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it." I will attempt a more comprehensive answer.