Roger Penrose discusses his career in mathematical physics

Roger Penrose is one of the recipients of the 2020 Nobel Prize for Physics. The British mathematical physicist was honoured for his discovery that black-hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity.

In this interview with Physics World’s Tushna Commissariat, recorded in 2015, Penrose looks back to the early years of his career as a PhD student at the University of Cambridge.

Speaking at the “Celebrating 100 Years of General Relativity” event at Queen Mary University of London, Penrose also looks to the future of his field. He believes that in the long-standing quest to unify the theories of gravity and quantum mechanics, it is quantum theory that must be modified significantly beyond its current form.

[sayanmistry]

Very inspiring for students like us who wants to become physicst in future and those who like physics.

[stefgori]

Physicists: tensors are difficult.
Penrose: let me write it in spinors

[alexfekken]

137 thumbs up - I hesitate to add another one and break the fine structure constant...

[frun]

I think quantum mechanics is directly related to fractal geometry. Energy cutoff of QFT reminds me of a truncated fractal. The fact that there are quasiparticles in qm is also noteworthy in that context.

[aminepas]

I want to mathematical physicist
Ichoose math or physics
Even I like physics than mathematics

[SkyDarmos]

General relativity is really quite wrong. Some effects are correct, but many are not.