Internet Billionaire Creates Huge Physics Prize 192
gbrumfiel writes "Billionaire Internet entrepreneur Yuri Milner has spontaneously awarded $3 million prizes to nine prominent theoretical physicists. The new Fundamental Physics Prize dwarfs awards like the Nobel, which this year is estimated to be worth some $1.2 million (and that's before it's split by up to three winners). It's so much money that some theorists fear it could distort the field. Milner says that his only purpose for the new prize was to promote the field, which he studied in the 1980s: 'The intention was to say that science is as important as a shares rating on Wall Street,' he told Nature."
27 MILLION DOLLARS (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Fusion (Score:3, Informative)
I don't get why we pour so much money into fusion. We have a perfectly fine tested method of doing nuclear power safely using a thorium reactor.
I mean fusion would definitely be a nice spiffy technology, but we know how to do nuclear safely and cleanly; cheap enough to clean up the world, I think estimates on a fully functional reactor (in the US) would be around $10bn - (or we could wait for the Chinese to be done with their design and ask if we can play with their toys).
Wrong Headline (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Fusion (Score:4, Informative)
Yes there is; in the 60s or 70s the US had a fully operational reactor. Kirk Sorensen has some very interesting talks about the history of the US nuclear program and why the reactor was scrapped (think weapons program and something as simple as a guy didn't like another) .
A who's who of active string theorists (Score:5, Informative)
They'll have quite the weight in the field in the future, especially since the current / original winners are all on the board for deciding future winners. Not that getting someone like (Fields medalist) Ed Witten interested in your work hasn't meant instant recognition before, but now he has the money to fund the research as well.
All in all, I think this gives the most influential people in the field a channel that makes them actively wield their influence.
Re:Fusion (Score:4, Informative)
Re:My immediate response was (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunately, no. Many intelligent young students are already going into high-energy theory and string theory (the primary recipients of this prize). In fact, there are far more students than jobs. I'm a recent PhD from a top physics (and particularly string theory) school. My classmates in string and high energy theory who recently applied for postdocs applied to 100 in order to receive 1 job offer; none of their jobs were in the U.S. These are not permanent jobs; they are usually 2 or 3 year positions, paying $40,000 or so. At the end of this time, you may then enter the lottery for the (literally) one string theory faculty job per year (see http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=4701 [columbia.edu] for job statistics). This is what causes students to leave to go to Wall Street, and piping in more money to the already-established best of the best of the field will not change this.
The purpose of this award seems to be to raise the profile of so-called "fundamental" theoretical physics; perhaps it will cause more funding to be directed in that direction, which might be good. More likely, it will simply encourage more optimistic, talented students to step into the meat grinder of a particularly depressed job market, making it even worse, and eventually redirecting another generation's best minds into Wall Street.
I'm not saying don't celebrate physics (I love physics, and am continuing in the field, though on a much more applied topic, where there is more funding) - but there is already enough hype for string theory, and it burns out enough students already.