Presenters for 2004:   Stephanie Andrews   Christopher Bailey   Joanna Berzowska   Shushil Bhakar   and Eric Hortop   Cliff Burgess   Paulo Chagas   Dennis Dollens   Dan Falk   Sarah Filley   Ivette Fuentes-Guridi   Lila Kari   Narendra Pachkhede   Chris Salter   Chelsea Smock   Clara Ursitti   Derek van der Kooy   Yon Visell   Fabian Winkler   Panel Discussion Symposium, 2004 The Theory Formerly Known as String Theory: A Theory of Everything? By Cliff Burgess McGill University http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/~cliff String theory is our best candidate for a theory of the physics of very short distances, and is the only known candidate theory which handles quantum corrections to gravity in a reasonable way at the highest energies. In this talk I summarize the advances which have been made in understanding string theory, and how this has led to its extension to a broader theory known as M Theory. I also summarize the problems which remain to be solved. Biography: I'm Cliff Burgess, and I am a physicist at McGill University who specializes in high-energy (or elementary-particle) physics. My father was a pilot, so I grew up in various small towns in the Canadian prairies, Ontario and Europe. I got my undergraduate physics degree at the University of Waterloo, and my doctoral degree at the University of Texas in Austin. After graduating I was a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton before coming to McGill.   Page Top Copyright © 2004 Subtle Technologies Festival