The Incredible Steven Weinberg (1933-2021) - Sixty Symbols

Legendary physicist Steven Weinberg is discussed by Ed Copeland and Tony Padilla, from the University of Nottingham.
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[@pigafettalyon1270]

"But if there is no solace in the fruits of our research, there is at least some consolation in the research itself ... the effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy." Steven Weinberg. "Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth." Dostoevsky.

[@leonstenutz6003]

Thank you. Agonizingly beautiful. Resonates deeply.

[@EE-kz4bo]

THANKYOU FOR YOUR ELOQUENT REPLY TO THIS VIDEO

[@jamesholley2966]

RIP. Thanks for educating us on a bit of his contributions and legacy, a fitting tribute.

[@jmchez]

My favorite Weinberg story is when he went to visit DeBroglie at his Chateau. Weinberg said that DeBroglie's butler welcomed him at the door and asked the purpose of his visit. He said that he was there to see Professor DeBroglie. The Butler stood there, unmoving, and said, "The Prince does not answer to that title at his home". Weinberg thought a second and said, "I am here to see Prince DeBroglie". The butler, then let him in.

[@dlevi67]

Not sure that reflects brilliantly on DeBroglie, particularly after 1789.

[@RalphDratman]

@@dlevi67 DeBroglie was born in 1892, 3 years after the centennial of the storming of the Bastille. Are you saying that his preference for being called "Prince" implied he was a Royalist?

[@dlevi67]

@@RalphDratman You tell me...

[@MrRobbyvent]

this story sounds rude to me.

[@RalphDratman]

​@@dlevi67 Well his insistence on the title is not exactlyl a vote for liberté, égalité, fraternité.

[@priyanshupaswan2184]

I am a high school student and I also mailed him few months ago regarding some questions relating to particle physics to which he very politely answered back that he didn't had time for me. After hearing the unfortunate news I felt so touched and connected like with no one else. The moment shocked me so much that I couldn't think of anything else. Thank you STEVEN SIR. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU DID.

[@User-jr7vf]

Wow you're so lucky to get a response from him. I always thought about sending even a "hi" to him, but couldn't even find his email on the web.

[@shreejankhanal9951]

I recently had a pleasure to attend his online seminar hosted by Dr. David Nygren in our physics department. Sadly, he passed months after the seminar. Condolences to Dr. Steven Weinberg

[@holliswilliams8426]

I think you're lucky he responded tbh.

[@dhireshyadav1783]

Man I can't believe this. He is one my favourites. His book on General Relatively - Gravitation and Cosmology is my favourite book. I'm studying General Relativity in my masters course, my love for GTR enhanced by his book. Love him. Legend. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ From Nepal 🇳🇵

[@johnsmith1474]

Along with the science and alongside it, Weinberg was a fantastic moral guide and ethical philosopher. The short number of hours I've listened to him were completely compelling. His dismissal of notions that require the supernatural is as well spoken as any, he epitomized the perfect teacher spreading wisdom.

[@zbaker0071]

I was lucky enough to attend one of his courses as an undergraduate. He loved talking about the ancient theories of physics, like from ancient greece and egypt. I will miss him.

[@DrDress]

So browsing Wikipedia I stumbled upon this paragraph that I didn't know about him (note he was over 80 at this point). As if he wasn't cool enough: "In 2016, Weinberg became a default leader for faculty and students opposed to a new law allowing the carrying of concealed guns in UT classrooms. He announced that he would prohibit guns in his classes, and said he would stand by his decision to violate university regulations in this matter even if faced with a lawsuit. Weinberg never retired and taught at UT until his death."

[@Kalumbatsch]

Wow. That a university professor could get in legal trouble for not allowing guns in his classroom, I don't think it could get any more batshit insane than that.

[@jessewolf6806]

@@Kalumbatsch What’s even more batshit insane is that there has been a complete failure on the part of the police, school administrators, etc. to protect students, faculty, and staff from mass murders on school grounds. And it will only get worse with the ludicrous “defund the police” movement. In that light, right to carry on university grounds is not unreasonable.

[@Kalumbatsch]

@@jessewolf6806 LOL

[@tyranneous]

"I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter." - Pascal said that, and it sounds like Weinberg had the knack.

[@asterixx6878]

Steven was not only a great physicist, he was also a great man. His humility and wisdom shone through in everything he did. Rest in peace, Steve.

[@alexgabel4379]

His textbooks are dense yet they’re a fascinating read! He really provides a hardcore approach to explaining physics you don’t get anywhere else. (Even though in his book on GR he vaguely mentions black holes, his reasoning for "classical GR" and evidence based cosmology is incredible.)

[@S1nwar]

so he believed matter could be compressed more compact than quarkstars without collapsing to a singularity?

[@alexgabel4379]

@@S1nwar If I remember correctly, he was pretty much against starting from the idea that GR was a geometric theory. He mentions that, from his perspective, it's merely a mathematical trick that gives correct results. EDIT: Changed my wording slightly after rereading parts of his textbook

[@S1nwar]

@@alexgabel4379 i assume that was earlier in his career and he changed his mind after something like the GP-B experiment from 2011, measuring the curvature of spacetime around earth

[@alexgabel4379]

@@S1nwar I think I worded it incorrectly. This was mainly in teaching. He didn't like to argue that GR was a geometric theory, as this would place too much emphasis on expecting that everything should behave mathematically, rather than the other way around.

[@alexgabel4379]

A funny quote from the preface: "a student who asked why the gravitational field is represented by a metric tensor, or why freely falling particles follow geodesics, or why the field equations are generally covariant would come away with the impression that this had something to do with the fact that space-time is a Riemannian manifold.”

[@DeathlyTired]

Really enjoyable to see such eminent speakers unapologetically extolling the qualities of a member of their field; almost bursting with enthusiasm just to voice their deep respect and gratitude.

[@Sphere723]

You don't have to listen to Weinberg for more than a few minutes to understand why he was so loved. He really had no ego, which is why he was able to think so clearly.

[@bomarfamily]

This is a really wonderful video - thanks for taking the time to make it and share it.

[@dlanska]

This is an excellent video, and is very well edited to present a seamless development of the ideas involved by 2 excellent speakers, who are presenting their viewpoints so eloquently with just a few questions from the interviewer. Amazing quality of discussion and synthesis.

[@uttaradit2]

Agreed

[@d-hat]

Wow! Just read his “The First Three Minutes”… an excellent read. Rest In Peace!

[@DrDress]

The title said 1933-2021 and I just knew it was gonna be a sad morning.

[@avantesma1]

It's interesting what Ed Copeland says at the end. Physics is somewhat stagnant. All hard science is like this: 1 or 2 breakthroughs, then A LOT of gruntwork on top of them to develop the field and, then... Kinda waiting for the next breakthrough. Since the half of the last century, we've been mostly doing the gruntwork. And we're exhausting the last breakthroughs (within our current technical capabilities, of course). Also, because we often don't see a breakthrough for what it really is, initially, there's no sure way of knowing when it will come, if it's on its way, if it's already here in some sense... I still hope I live to see at least 1 of those fully realized. It'd be a beautiful thing to witness.

[@d-hat]

I certainly hope the recent Muon g2 experiment begins such a transition…

[@felixthehuman]

It made me think of Thomas Kuhn

[@arpitdas4263]

On it. I swear

[@standowner6979]

@@arpitdas4263 What is your field of study?

[@Kalumbatsch]

Oh, that Copeland. I thought, what does that crazy preacher have to do with it?

[@SoleaGalilei]

Thank you for this lovely tribute.

[@saratoga123321]

What's ironic about what Ed said about the hindsight and being blown away by a 50 year old paper and it's beauty, the same way as a young layperson with all our modern music and art, listens to The Beatles and is just struck in amazement and appreciation

[@orson3185]

RIP Steven Weinberg. A legend in modern physics. I loved reading his books about quantum theory of fields. A complex subject but he had the talent to make it interesting and fascinating.

[@Greenaresy]

I would love a lengthy video on the Kaluza-Klein theory.

[@davidgillies620]

I would say out of my physics class at Imperial (a great deal of which was spent in the lecture hall in which Weinberg was speaking), a good 80% of us had read _The First Three Minutes_ at school and had been inspired by it.

[@robertschlesinger1342]

Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video.

[@jenniferauada9689]

Hi, I'm excited about your comment and you are really amazine hope you are having a wonderful time in your life

[@BlueSoulTiger]

10:59 The specialness of a ground-breaking paper only two and a half pages long, makes me think of the quote: "If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter". Except in cases such as Weinberg's, we can transform the quote to: "If I had more insight, I would have written a shorter paper". Aspirational for most of us; realised by Weinberg.

[@simonhands8426]

Steven Weinberg will be remembered as one of the truly outstanding physicists of our era. He made seminal contributions and shaped research agendas in so many different areas of our subject. Very sad to hear of his passing.

[@mathunt1130]

Reading Weinberg's book on quantum field theory as a mathematician was completely incomprehensible.

[@MostlyIC]

one of my all time favorite books is Weinberg's "The First Three Minutes", an absolute must have !!!

[@TheyCallMeNewb]

Ed always has a personal connection, like carrying Hawking down some stairs.

[@Amethyst_Friend]

He's super. And he shares my name :)

[@TubeUil]

indeed, I think about that story now and again. Wonderful. I mean the stairs story. ̛ It makes these people more human with these stories and deepens my admiration:)

[@michaelsommers2356]

The physics world is small. Dtories like that are not at all uncommon.

[@adamrspears1981]

"There's nothing in the laws of physics that says Theoretical Physicists have to be happy." -Best quote I heard a scuentist say.

[@chriskindler10]

his textbooks on Quantum Field Theory are still the gold standard, although extremely difficult

[@bloomtwig76]

QFT is extremely difficult! Never studied it at uni but have been reading a lot about it, but I always end up having no clue what some wierd character means and get stuck :)

[@albirtarsha5370]

I got a couple of his books signed at a book signing in Austin! I am so thankful that I met him. I was stunned by his passing.

[@User-jr7vf]

@@albirtarsha5370 did you pay him for signing?

[@albirtarsha5370]

@@User-jr7vf LOL, not directly. I did buy his book. Is that a thing now? I don't remember there being a line.

[@apsychohistorian1616]

Indeed, I haven't finished vol. 1 yet.

[@SassePhoto]

The only mistake this wonderful tribute to Weinberg has is that is has far too few views

[@gordonrichardson2972]

As a layman I enjoyed his book Dreams of a Final Theory.

[@jenniferauada9689]

Hi, I'm excited about your comment and you are really amazine hope you are having a wonderful time in your life

[@nonesuch444]

Sheldon and Mr Weinberg I love the way your faces light up talking about science we should hear and know more of these premier legends, thanks how amazing.

[@andrevalera6883]

Weinberg fue un físico increíble, y sin duda su nombre debe y será recordado. Thank you for this video in honor of this giant man.

[@PopeLando]

2:40 In the 19th Century, 70-year old looking scientists turn out to have died aged 48.

[@gordonrichardson2972]

Beards make you look 10 years older...

[@verthandi8379]

@@gordonrichardson2972 What about the other 12?

[@michaelsommers2356]

@@verthandi8379 Black-and-white photography.

[@nicholastaylor880]

If Weinberg wrote a 2 1/2 page paper today, with no literature review, no impact statement, no lengthy arguments and explanations of figures etc .. would it ever get published?

[@Mithennesss]

Nice video.

[@werdwerdus]

i like how Ed's picture from 1992 has him wearing almost the exact same outfit 😄

[@chrisgriffith1573]

Weinberg had the gift of insight. He knew so well of what he was dealing with, the vision was in the real physics of the matter, not the math of the math, like so many of us get trapped inside, disjointed from the matter it represents.

[@RalphDratman]

Does anyone else find it astonishing that the organization and properties of all these particles could be described by human mathematics less than 70 years after the first observations of radioactivity? The microscopic physical constituents of our reality, derived from calculations that actually make sense to our minds. That amazes me.

[@MrLewooz]

The best of Weinberg is: "I don't make the believing in god impossible, I make the not believing in god possible"

[@whirledpeas3477]

Awesome 👌 I haven't heard that. Thanks

[@dr.satishsharma9794]

Excellent... thanks 🙏.

[@myopenmind527]

I’m shocked I’m only finding about this now. Wow, what a giant of physics, what a clear minded thinker, original thinker, educator and humanist.

[@MEZBAHN]

RIP, great noble person. Heariest condolences to the family and friends. And what a great tribute you guys have given remembering him, his achievements, all those amazing works. Love and Blessings.

[@KingPauke]

alone the fact that this video is about weinberg, but Richard Feynman got cited so often shows you the importance of Feynman.

[@Simbosan]

The closer we get to a complete model, the less chance of superstars appearing.

[@VariantAEC]

Underrated comment.

[@dlevi67]

It may not even be a question of a complete model (though I agree with the spirit of your observation) - my cynical self suspects that we may be approaching the capability of the human mind to work things through.

[@neiladlington950]

I have a feeling much of the problem lies within the ubiquitous and encroaching corporate culture, with all its toxic baggage, that "superstars" would have to emerge from.

[@louisgiokas2206]

Roger Penrose won the 2020 Nobel Prize for a paper written in 1965 that was barely 3 pages long. I see a pattern.

[@farmanullah6210]

Where can I find the video of his 1981 london lecture? KZbin does not seem to have it

[@alandyer910]

Excellent recollections and tribute to Weinberg. Thank you for producing that. Interesting comment about the problem with the LHC being that they haven’t found anything Weinberg didn’t predict! It’s all very well to gather observational support for our existing theories, but you really want to discover new things. Surely the solution to what dark matter and dark energy are will produce such new physics. Not to mention finally understanding what gravity is. There must be young brilliant minds out there working on it and perhaps eventually able to distill their theory into a 2.5 page paper!

[@danielpirone8028]

Get a lead shield around Kip Thorne

[@bilalphysics4872]

Love to listen... Them

[@RobertoAFernandez]

What a beautiful tribute to professor Weinberg. Thank you!

[@tomaslopes626]

Does anyone know where I can find video of the lecture in min. 10:30?

[@michaelupdike-bz6rg]

Everyone misses him here at the University of Texas. He was a giant for sure.

[@mohamedwagieh9280]

Could you help me reach his agent for translation rights to his book to explain the world?!

[@virolex6961]

Got here after his passing unfortunately. He'll be someone I'll never get to experience.

[@seanmortazyt]

fantastic tribute

[@mohammedkhan4990]

RIP…..Weinberg was a giant of a man and will be greatly missed.

[@element4element4]

The books at 1:12 miss his most famous books: his books on Quantum Field Theory (volume 1, 2 and 3).

[@CJ_102]

Love these folks. Long may it last.

[@BaiDamqn]

Amazing !!!

[@somethingness]

Although I didn't realize it at the time, reading "Dreams of a Final Theory" had a profound effect on my teenage self.

[@_kantor_]

Amazing how modest they are.. for an undergrad like me they're superstars

[@yaserthe1]

Love the humility of the last comment.

[@debmalyamukhopadhyay795]

how do we get the video lecture of Weinberg in London 1981? Please give a link or source

[@whirledpeas3477]

There's a new thing called GOOGLE

[@debsub1]

How do we get the video lecture of Weinberg ?

[@lordnavjot5921]

tribute of the highest degree to a legendary physicist and an excellent human being

[@rajasekarv3810]

RIP Prof Weinberg. His book, The First Three Minutes is a masterpiece. Must read for all Science literates...

[@An0nim0u5]

Weinberg was amazing but I would love to see Salam and his independent discovery as well.

[@TheJlter]

Great video ... Weinberg - why was he unable to show if his own theory was renormalizable ? Do you have some b-roll with discussions on that ?

[@mawkernewek]

17:50 just like actual stars in the universe, these last few gigayears we've just not been making as many supermassive stars to replace the ones that reach the end of their lives.

[@jenniferauada9689]

Hi, I'm excited about your comment and you are really amazine hope you are having a wonderful time in your life

[@xyzct]

Sixty Symbols, do a video on Emmy Noether!

[@brainpain5260]

Rest in Peace Steven. You were a genius amongst geniuses.

[@airmakay1961]

I so enjoy science in the context of the men and women that make it happen. Hopefully Mr Weinberg's atoms will recombine into someone equally remarkable some time in the future!

[@Digitalhunny]

Really thought you started out this video saying, "I bless him as one of the theoretical physicists....". We may need 16 or 17 different people, just to _attempt_ makeup for the hole his passing will leave in the field. RIP Steven Weinberg

[@deeprecce9852]

RIP Big Steve!

[@vadinhopsc]

The life cycle of a great scientist has come to an end. His oustanding contribution to science stays with us.

[@jenniferauada9689]

Hi, I'm excited about your comment and you are really amazine hope you are having a wonderful time in your life

[@vadinhopsc]

@@jenniferauada9689 Thanks. I do. Trying to do the most of my own cycle of life.Hope you do too.

[@onderozenc4470]

Deviations from the standardodel are merely statistical. At much higher energies, you would get heavier quarks with more statistical deviations in decay products up to mesons.

[@delusionnnnn]

If Mr. Copeland is talking about 1992 Black Wednesday, I was in the UK for two years then, but being paid in dollars. So, the opposite situation. A few days after it started, and things really got bad for the pound, friends and I all made it down to Cambridge and London and came back with hundreds of pounds of music from all the record shops. Since all of my bills were also in dollars, only local prices changed for us. I felt very bad, because it was mostly an excuse for all the Euroskeptics to lord it all over the press (funny how that seems relevant again), but I did pick up some excellent music.

[@PaulPaulPaulson]

I have seen a lot of physics videos here and elsewhere involving unified forces, yet I have absolutely no idea what unification means in this context.

[@josephcote6120]

For example, at one point electricity and magnetism were seen as unrelated physical forces. Maxwell showed that they are different manifestations of the same underlying effects and wrote the equations that explained both at once, this was the unification of those two things. Weinberg Unified that with the weak force, and that is pretty much where we are today. They are looking to explain the strong force and gravity and put them all under one set of equations that explain all of them at once.

[@thstroyur]

It means _gauge_ unification; forces, in modern physics, are thought of as derivative of the continuous symmetries of Nature, which are (abstract) mathematical properties tied to (observable) conserved currents via a coupla results known as Noether's Theorems. What most particle physicists are looking for today is a single, big symmetry group for _all_ of the known particles that'll split into the smaller group we see today in the SM (i.e., SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) ) via a Higgs mechanism, supersymmetry, or something like that

[@beck4218]

1992 was a tough year for those in the UK to study abroad (GBP depeg).

[@casacara]

He was a great man, but I really had a problem with his fervent hatred of the ISS, especially given that most of that was about the budget allocated to it by the government when less than half of a percent of the US budget goes to spaceflight. Felt like punching at the wrong people.

[@chrisgriffith1573]

Itt is amazing to me how we (humans) have evolved enough to understand how things too small to ever see with natural eyes make up the universe and function to bring us into the world.

[@jenniferauada9689]

Hi, I'm excited about your comment and you are really amazine hope you are having a wonderful time in your life

[@TheTrancemaster90]

RIP Steven, a life dedicated investigating Nature is a well spent life!

[@stramster1]

First Three Minutes did it for me.

[@mitchellhayman381]

Something about Steven I really appreciate and admire. Beautiful man.

[@geoden]

Steven Weinberg was one of the great physicists, sad to see him go.

[@apburner1]

Why is it that I am told what Kim Kardashian is doing every moment of the day, but it's 10 days after that I find out a Nobel physicist has died?

[@dlevi67]

Such is the way of the world.

[@GH-oi2jf]

Maybe because you are reading the tabloids instead of The New York Times.

[@tomsmith4542]

RIP Steven !!

[@kashnigahbaruda]

Didn't know he died. RIP.

[@StaticBlaster]

same. I just finished re-watching the fabric of the cosmos documentary and then started watching more physics videos on here then discovered this video. I was like wtf. rip to this incredible physicist.

[@a0z9]

Un físico como la copa de un pino

[@steeveedeee]

Very educational; just like he would have done it. RIP

[@chrisgriffith1573]

Many people are in the shadow of the "Weinberg's" of the world... so many people are working hard to manifest the incredible goals of these men, with no less than incredible discoveries of their own, but the easy part was finding the goal, the hard part is doing the decades long work of realizing the goal.

[@ArbitraryConstant]

I only found out from this video :(

[@jareknowak8712]

R. I. P.

[@chrisgriffith1573]

I wonder what the world would be like if you had gone to Weinberg for fellowship?

[@tedbo1819]

Pity you didn't do one for Freeman Dyson when he passed away not so long ago.

[@frogz]

Rest In Peace

[@Server0750]

That one dude looks like Bart Boos (Dutch TV)

[@markarianludd5930]

A great loss in so many ways.

[@Max_Flashheart]

Weinberg also invented Quantum Inspirational Delegation

[@xblinketx]

Oh no :(