Oerter, Robert

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Oerter, Robert

(Robert N. Oerter)

PERSONAL: Male. Education: Swarthmore College, B.A., 1983; University of Maryland, M.S., 1987, Ph.D., 1989.

ADDRESSES: Office—George Mason University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Science, and Technology 1, Rm. 303, MSN 3F3, Fairfax, VA 22030. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, assistant professor of physics.

WRITINGS:

The Theory of Almost Everything: The Standard Model, the Unsung Triumph of Modern Physics, edited by Jeff Galas and Michael Thurston, Pi Press (Indianapolis, IN), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Robert Oerter's book The Theory of Almost Everything: The Standard Model, the Unsung Triumph of Modern Physics explains the standard model of elementary particles for the common reader. The beauty of the theory is that it explains how everything in the physical world works, except for gravity. Scientists' inability to explain gravity is the insurmountable problem that makes the standard model the "theory of almost everything." The standard model has allowed generations of scientists to create invaluable advances in physics. For instance, the theory gave Albert Einstein the material he needed to develop his theory of special relativity, and it laid the foundation for quantum mechanics.

Despite the theory's sturdy usefulness, it has, as Oerter explains, become the "Rodney Dangerfield of physical theories" in that it "don't get no respect." Oerter's quest to give the theory the credit it is due won praise from critics. A writer for Science News called The Theory of Almost Everything "accessible and engaging" in its depiction of the scientists who developed the theory and others who have built on it. In Publishers Weekly a reviewer called Oerter's book a "relentlessly informative and digestible primer," and in Library Journal Elizabeth Brown praised Oerter's ability to clarify the complex ideas of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. Oerter concludes the book by recounting recent discoveries in physics, including the development of string theory and the existence of dark matter. These new ideas, he says, give scientists hope that a new "theory of everything" will soon supersede the hardworking standard model.