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The Role of Theory in Science - David Gross

1,518 views · Published 2 April 2013 · 1:39:53 · Indexed 24 September 2026

Channel: International Centre for Theoretical Sciences · 2013 · Science & Technology

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Speaker : David Gross (KITP, Santa Barbara)
Date and Time : 28 Dec 2009, 05:30 PM
Venue : J. N. Tata Auditorium, IISc, Bangalore

On the occasion of the inauguration of the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, TIFR, I shall share some of my observations and conclusions as to the various roles of theory in science. Physics is the field of science where theory is most established and it is the most mature and powerful of the sciences. But theory, much of it derived from physics, is growing in importance in the neighboring fields of astronomy, chemistry and biology. Theory can both deepen our understanding of separate areas of science, as well as provide the intellectual glue of interdisciplinary research.

Table of Contents (powered by https://videoken.com)
0:00:00 Start 
0:01:37 The Role of Theory in Science
0:03:25 Prof. Nash, you have been awarded the Memorial Nobel Prize for Economic Science.
0:04:55 The Role of theory in Science - The Role of Theory Institutes
0:06:28 Our Minds Have Been Shaped by Natural Evolution
0:11:07 Kanada
0:12:22 It's Just a Theory
0:16:46 The scientific method is based on the thesis that the final authority as to scientific truth is observation and experiment
0:20:08 Galileo Discovered that all Bodies Fall with the Same Acceleration
0:22:31 Aristotle: Heavier Bodies Fall Faster
0:25:34 In the Dialogue on the Great Two Systems of the World
0:26:55 Newton
0:28:34 His theory of Mechanics and of Gravity set the standard for theoretical physics for centuries--
0:29:18 The language of nature is mathematics.
0:33:11 Natural Philosophy
0:38:54 Theory plays many different roles in physics:
0:40:24 High Energy e-p Scattering
0:41:55 Pointlike Behavior the Parton Model
0:42:28 2. Suggesting new experiments or observations,
0:43:29 Sum Rules
0:45:33 The experiments & the sum rules convinced me that:
0:48:42 The Vacuum
0:51:57 4. Finally, the ultimate reductionist goal of science,
0:53:01 Asymptotic Freedom -QCD Quantum Chromodynamics
0:54:17 The Light Hadron Spectrum Of QCD
0:55:13 5. Modeling and calculating the expected background to new experiments so that experimenters can discover new phenomena
1:01:18 Theoretical Biology - Is there a theory of Biology?
1:04:18 The Mission Of The KITP
1:11:18 The Future of Theory
1:12:38 "The End of Theory" by Chris Anderson.
1:16:03 Maybe Not - Language & Mathematics have infinite capacity
1:17:34 Reductionism
1:20:10 The Geometry of Knowledge
1:21:54 Knowledge, Ignorance and Wisdom
1:25:36 So, lots of time for theory institutes, such as the ICTS, to prosper
1:25:47 Q&A

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