A tribute to John Schwarz by John Preskill To John Schwarz Thirty years ago or more John saw what physics had in store. He had a vision of a string And focused on that one big thing. But then in nineteen-seven-three Most physicists had to agree That hadrons blasted to debris Were well described by QCD. The string, it seemed, by then was dead. But John said: “It’s space-time instead! The string can be revived again. Give masses twenty powers of ten!” Then Dr. Green and Dr. Black, Writing papers by the stack, Made One, Two-A, and Two-B glisten. Why is it none of us would listen? We said, “Who cares if super tricks Bring D to ten from twenty-six? Your theory must have fatal flaws. Anomalies will doom your cause.” If you weren’t there you couldn’t know The impact of that mightly blow: “The Green-Schwarz theory could be true — It works for S-O-thirty-two!” Then strings of course became the rage And young folks of a certain age Could not resist their siren call: One theory that explains it all. Because he never would give in, Pursued his dream with discipline, John Schwarz has been a hero to me. So please, don’t spell it with a “t”!
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 23:03:22 +0000
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