Who is the formost expert on String Theory?
106733
Not to beat a dead horse, but it's Edward Witten.  The reason why though is because he was able to unify the several flavors of string theory into, one mathematically stable, unifying theory.  It suggests some pretty "out there" ideas, and its called M Theory.\n\nAlso, I noticed that somebody suggested that it took several scientists to match the power of Einstein's intellect.  However, Einstein did very little to establish laws for the very small, which was governed by Quantum Mechanics, a theory that he very much disliked.  Yet Quantum Mechanics has accurately described the very small for years over years.  So I wouldn't call Einstein irreplaceable.
150007
At the moment no one knows.\n\nString theories are one attempts to combine Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity, which is what a unified theory is. Thus far no complete theory and no testable predictions have emerged. Perhaps they will in time, or from some of the alternatives like loop gravity.
167035
ok this is a video and ther is also a book on it called the eligant universe by brian greene. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html\nthis will help explain theory and the science needed to understand string theory it is good.
891719
In all honesty you can't. String theory is so mathematically complex that you basically need a PhD in string theory to understand it, in fact most PhD physicists who are not string theorists don't understand it, nor do the want to (and a lot of them are opposed to it).\n\nString theory is a very dangerous endeavor. Some of the stuff it suggests (like time travel) are fun to think about, but it has yet yielded an experiment that could be used to test its validity. There has never been anything observed, no measurement taken, that could prove sting theory true or false. So far, it is only a set of very complicated mathematical expressions that may or may not describe the world we live in. \n\nI think its great that your cousin has taken an interest in physics. But I think it would be best if you steer him away from books on string theory. There are many fascinating physical phenomena that have been observed that have nothing to do with strings. I would suggest that he read "1 2 3 ... infinity" by Gamow.
283399
STRING THEORY, is one of the theories of modern sciences where it states that every thing in this universe is made of strings. The visual and other evidence of differences in objects is how the strings are. For example, longer strings mean more red color (this is a hypothetical example.) \nString Theory was predicted to give solutions to lot of problems in modern Physics. It has not ben proved yet, thus is not a complete true science yet.
168536
There are two main kinds of strings: cosmic strings, and then strings that are postulated to be building blocks of matter.\n\nCosmic strings are attempts to explain the irregularity of matter in the cosmos.\n\nThe other string theory postulates that matter is not built out of zero dimensional objects (particles) but out of one dimensional objects (strings). These are very small and they vibrate to produce various effects. There are different varieties of these building block type string theories, which you can read about below.
510510
I would have to go with the Planck length on this one, which is a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a centimeter!  \n\nThe reason I say this: According to String Theory, strings are that long, and they are the fundamental building block of all matter.  Therefore, nothing exists that is smaller than that, so it is useless to have a smaller measurement.
392295
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory\n\nI know giving a url as an answer is a cop out, but really, it is the best way to explain something as complex as the string theory. READ IT! It's pretty cool!
469686
Like so many things in physics, string theory came about by accident, and was not entirely unrelated to the fact that physicists don't get laid often enough.\n\nGaspard LaRoche was a physicist in Bonne in 1948. He was experimenting with particle deceleration, on the basis that by selectively weakening electrochemical bonds within steel molecules, you could essentially make "stretchy bridges" - bridges that wouldn't break but would only use about a third of the raw steel to make - you'd basically just have to stretch them out long enough.\n\nIt wasn't going well.\n\nGaspard made his own lunch, because like many physicists, he was a truly lonely, blinkered individual. He traditionally made himself cheese sandwiches, and ate them, miserably, in the lab.\n\nThe rest is history - the result of boredom and that dark curiosity that makes physicists wonder 'what will happen if I press this button'. Gaspard zapped his sandwich with a stream of decelerated protons, threw in a handful of deconstructed proteins just for show, and voila - cheese sandwiches that could be bounced, stretched, split and strung across the lab as a party piece.\n\nSadly, Gaspard died alone, uncelebrated for his single contribution to the world outside the laboratory. His stretchy bridges never came to anything, and it wasn't until two years after his death that string cheese was reinvented as a childhood food.\n\nIncidentally, all this pre-dated the string theory of the universe by some years. The scientists behind the theory have always fought shy of acknowledging Gaspard's work as being their inspiration...but we know the truth.
707791
Besides the classic standard model of quantum mechanics, there's the superspace version where all possibilities happen in alternate universes.  Then there's string theory and its higher dimensional cousin m-theory.  As far as I know, that last is most current.  Recent Nobel prize for it at Institute of Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara.  But see link as well.
18056
actually, physicists are still looking for the law of everything that connects the different theories of things and stuff.  String theory is pretty interesting although it doesnt provide definitive answers, it gets closer.  You seem interested in this stuff, you should read "The Elegent Universe" by Brian Greene.  It will explain a lot and help with your understanding.  Be warned though, you might find it too interesting and get too curious like me and end up being a physics major just to get some questions answered, and more do get answered the farther you go in physics haha. Read that book though, it will blow your mind.
1018601
yes I have heard him speak too his name is Dr. Gerald Schroeder and he has a brilliant mind and is quite knowledgeable on the subject.\n\nhere is a link to his article if you want\n\nhttp://www.aish.com/societywork/sciencenature/Age_of_the_universe.asp
627179
M theory is an imaginative extension of string theory that says the universe exists on a "brane".  This brane apparently resembles a membrane floating through space.  Instead of the standard big bang theory, m theory states the universe was born in an ekpyrotic event, the collision of two above mentioned branes.  While it gives string theory mathematical existence with 11 spatial dimensions, and brilliantly explains the observed particle interactions within particle accelerators (which no other theory has managed to do, the extensions of this theory are hard to prove and create a great deal of theological debate.
68943
subject matter expert.
91646
String theory is a model of fundamental physics whose building blocks are one-dimensional extended objects (strings) rather than the zero-dimensional points (particles) that are the basis of the Standard Model of particle physics. For this reason, string theories are able to avoid problems associated with the presence of pointlike particles in a physical theory. Studies of string theories have revealed that they require not just strings but also higher-dimensional objects.\n\nThe basic idea is that the fundamental constituents of reality are strings of energy of the Planck length (about 10-35 m) which vibrate at resonant specific frequencies[1]. Another key claim of the theory is that no measurable differences can be detected between strings that wrap around dimensions smaller than themselves and those that move along larger dimensions (i.e., effects in a dimension of size R equal those whose size is 1/R). Singularities are avoided because the observed consequences of "big crunches" never reach zero size. In fact, should the universe begin a "big crunch" sort of process, string theory dictates that the universe could never be smaller than the size of a string, at which point it would actually begin expanding.\n\nInterest in string theory is driven largely by the hope that it will prove to be a theory of everything. It is a possible solution of the quantum gravity problem, and in addition to gravity it can naturally describe interactions similar to electromagnetism and the other forces of nature. Superstring theories include fermions, the building blocks of matter, and incorporate supersymmetry. It is not yet known whether string theory is able to describe a universe with the precise collection of forces and matter that is observed, nor how much freedom to choose those details the theory will allow. String theory as a whole has not yet made falsifiable predictions that would allow it to be experimentally tested, though various special corners of the theory are accessible to planned observations and experiments.\n\nWork on string theory has led to advances in mathematics, mainly in algebraic geometry. String theory has also led to other theories, supersymmetric gauge theories, which will be tested at the new Large Hadron Collider experiment.
1007411
Current best theory is the M Theory - a revised version of Superstring Theory.
261464
Additional info: I've talked to Holger Bech, one of the three founding fathers and Danish, and not even he believes in the theory. Basically, this is due to the String Theory postulating the existence of 9 dimensions. We can see that this is pretty far from the case, with there only being 3 physical dimensions and time, equaling 4. Furthermore, S.T. postulates that almost 300 of a specific grouping of particles exist. Experimental testing estimates that only 16 exist.