Discuss “Lecture attendance reflects popularity of string theory”

There are few geeks who don?t know Brian Greene. Through his books The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos and a recent NOVA special, the Columbia professor has succeeded in making string theory, a mathematically complex hypothesis describing the universe?s smallest particles, not only accessible but popular.

Greene spoke about string theory last Monday to an enthusiastic audience as part of the Drue Heinz lecture series at Carnegie Music Hall. In the audience were more than 80 physics students from the CMU physics department, which sponsored their admission tickets. The turnout is reflective of the popular appeal string theory has achieved, especially among physics enthusiasts.

To many of these students, the possibility of contributing...