Strings 2000’s Top 10 Bemuse Belfast

David Mermin is entitled to disagree with the list of top 10 questions in fundamental physics (February 2001, page 11 ), but I think he should at least attribute the list to the physicists who compiled it rather than to the New York Times.

The Strings 2000 conference was hosted by the University of Michigan in July of that year. The organizing committee, which I chaired, invited each participant to supply a question; the best 10 questions were chosen by a panel consisting of David Gross, Edward Witten, and me. More details, including names of the people responsible for the winning questions, may be found on the Web at http://feynman.physics.lsa.umich.edu/strings2000/millennium.html .

Incidentally, the list produced an unexpected reaction in the strife-torn city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. A local artist concluded that, instead of fighting each other, its citizens might better spend their time pondering deep thoughts. He posted plaques of the top 10 questions around the city at bus stops, in pubs, and elsewhere, much to the bemusement of the residents. See http://www.qub.ac.uk/mp/questions/index.html .