JOA's Luke and String Theory -- As If....

So, there we go.  Ten minutes into the episode, and Luke is moaning
that he did not get the Nobel Prize, after predicting the strength of
fields that emerge from string theory, or superstring theory.  (By the
way, I think he actually mentioned "force fields", which if he means
that in the Star Trek/Star Wars sense, has nothing to do with real
physics.)

People in sci.physics, please forgive the cross-posting, but we need
an objective referee here.  The debate is about whether a 15 year old
science whiz on a show called Joan Of Arcadia could possibly know
enough physics to do calculations with string theory.  Correct me if
I'm wrong, but 99.5% of fourth year PhD candidates in physics don't
know string theory, am I right?

I'm tempted to suspect that the producers of JOA are lurking in the
newsgroup, and deliberately giving Luke these impossible science
achievements just to tweak our noses, except that I know the lead time
to produce a TV show would make that impossible.

Still, Luke's uber-uber-smarts are way off the plausibility scale for
a show which -- other than Joan talking to God -- tries to keep it's
characters realistic.  People wanted a specific example, now you have
one.

Steve O.


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