Status Updates From Memories of a Theoretical P...

....discontinuities along eight dimensional planes. I referred to these as D8-branes, and Witten asked, `How can these be D8-branes, they are supersymmetric?’ And I explained that D-branes are BPS states, carrying Ramond-Ramond (R-R) charges. Witten seemed astonished, and said that I should write this up ( I don’t think we met in person, and don’t recall whether his astonishment was conveyed by phone or email).

During the time I was there, I had the excitement of seeing the discovery of the 40 GeV top quark, supersymmetry, and the ζ_8.3. The less credulous readers will point out that the top was discovered more than 10 years later at 170 GeV, supersymmetry has not been found, and what is ζ_8.3 anyway? Such was life in the Wild West (or should I say Alternate Truth?) of particle physics.

In a sense, shyness and lack of common sense were two sides of the same coin. If you talk to other people you learn things. If you don't, you have to figure everything out yourself. Even after maturing from shyness to introversion, I tend not to ask questions or seek help. This may be one of the reasons that my science didn't really reach its peak until rather late.