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String theory... resolves the central dilemma confronting contemporary — String theory

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"String theory... resolves the central dilemma confronting contemporary physics—the incompatibility between quantum mechanics and general relativity—and that unifies our understanding of all of natures fundamental material constituents and forces. But to accomplish these feats, ...string theory requires that the universe have extra space dimensions. ... Physicists have found that a key signal that a quantum mechanical theory has gone haywire is that particular calculations yield "probabilities" that are not within... acceptable range. For instance... infinite probabilities. ...string theory cures these infinities. ...a residual ...problem remains. In the early days ...calculations yielded negative probabilities ...so string theory appeared to be awash in its own quantum-mechanical hot water. ... Physicists found that the troublesome calculations were highly sensitive to the number of independent directions to which a string can vibrate. ...if strings could vibrate in nine independent spatial directions, all of the negative probabilities would cancel out. ... Kaluza and Klein provide a loophole... in addition to our familiar three... there are six other curled-up... rather than just postulating the existence of extra dimensions, as had been done by Kaluza, Klein, and their followers, string theory requires them."
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String theory
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String theory
String theory
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In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interact with each other. On distance scales larger than the string scale, a string acts like a particle, with its mass, charge, and other properties determined by the

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"Its been said that string theory is part of the physics of the twenty-first century that fell by chance into the twentieth century. Thats a remark that was made by a leading physicist about fifteen years ago. ...String theory was invented essentially by accident in a long series of events, starting with the Veneziano model... No one invented it on purpose, it was invented in a lucky accident. ...By rights, string theory shouldnt have been invented until our knowledge of some of the areas that are prerequisite... had developed to the point that it was possible for us to have the right concept of what it is all about."
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"Generally speaking, all the really great ideas of physics are really spin-offs of string theory... Some of them were discovered first, but I consider that a mere accident of the development on planet earth. On planet earth, they were discovered in this order [general relativity, quantum field theory, superstrings, and supersymmetry]... But I dont believe, if there are many civilizations in the universe, that those four ideas were discovered in that order in each civilization."
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"To build matter itself from geometry — that in a sense is what string theory does. It can be thought of that way, especially in a theory like the heterotic string which is inherently a theory of gravity in which the particles of matter as well as the other forces of nature emerge in the same way that gravity emerges from geometry. Einstein would have been pleased with this, at least with the goal, if not the realization. … He would have liked the fact that there is an underlying geometrical principle — which, unfortunately, we don’t really yet understand."
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String theory