Fashion, faith and fantasy in the new physics of the Universe

Can the following of fashion, blind faith, or flights of fantasy have anything seriously to do with the scientific quest to understand the universe? Surely not – but Roger Penrose argues that researchers working at the extreme frontiers of physics are as susceptible to these forces as anyone else, and that fashion, faith, and fantasy, while sometimes highly productive in physics, may be leading today’s researchers astray in three of that field’s most important areas—string theory, quantum mechanics, and cosmology.

Professor Penrose’s new book Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe is published by Princeton University Press and available now.