Thomas Van Riet @ThomasVanRiet2 Twitter profile

Last Seen Profiles

@SFbio

@did_Gi_no

@csantoss06

@bokeplokalmalam

@PhelpsJado13874

@_parrotfinance

@BTWsanctuary

@Newstar_shops

@rennslyaer

@UniversoFharma

@PayAngeIina

@BinorRaja

@SaiyanGilfGine

@Cornell_L_Rev

@thinwhitelics

@MrsNewell22

@Amiiee_Ig

@QuincySkinnerJr

@jandakembangstw

@WorkingMoneyCH

@stwmaniax

@BlueSky7Bee

@SwissMFA

@stw_pdg

@Harold55347133

@komi99070045

@lizonstage

@dougsthename_sg

@cropze

@Blent07817157

@imjabbers

@KurzweilAINews

@aoyedeking

@zamanindagel

@773Nooch

@MexNaugthy

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

never, ever, give up

26

802

4K

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

17

818

4K

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

9 months

stolen from facebook today

15

87

1K

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

Een van de studenten schreef "zie cursus" bij alle examenvragen. Dat is feitelijk juist.

11

38

1K

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

4 months

9

131

1K

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

6 months

This is actually not that far off. The main European Strings conference (EuroStrings 2024) had to take place in Stockholm but is cancelled because all hotels are fully booked due to a Taylor Swift concert

Sichu Lu([email protected])

@lu_sichu

6 months

since we are all swifties today my favorite taylor meme

20

100

952

13

135

1K

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 months

High school teachers can have much bigger impact on young people's lives than university professors. We forget that sometimes. I just received a photo of my geology teacher in high school. I never went to study geology, but this man has been a great inspiration to me.

22

96

1K

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

5

113

888

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

4 months

A PhD is not supposed to be useful for your career. It is supposed to be fun and meet your hunger for understanding things.

Ashley Ruba, PhD

@ashleyruba_phd

5 months

A tough pill to swallow: PhDs have spent a decade in post-secondary education for a degree that is essentially meaningless in the business world. It is completely valid to feel regret, anger, and/or despair about this. Don't let it paralyze you.

91

42

468

39

69

775

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

My academic career summarized

7

80

702

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Als ik lees hoe Marc Van Ranst collega @TijlDeBie aanpakt op Twitter, kan ik niet anders dan teleurgesteld zijn in de houding van een wetenschapper en diens publieke verantwoordelijkheid.

37

70

700

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Sometimes I get a bit tired explaining what the problem is with the rhetoric of Sabine Hossenfelder. Let me summarize it briefly, so I can point to this later. She has a history of attacking subfields of physics: string theory, then black hole information, now PP physics. 1/8

39

111

674

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

10 months

Notation invented by geometers to maximally confuse students

32

57

659

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

Ik beschouw mijzelf als groen, progressief-links en zal nooit NVA stemmen. Toch vind ik de uitspraken van Bert Wollants veel meer steek houden dan die van minister Van der Straeten. Mag dat? Of past dit niet binnen onze gepolariseerde wereld van 2 kampen?

71

24

663

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 months

Surprising to read these Israeli scholars are worried about academic freedom. They were deadly silent when all universities in Gaza were destroyed or during the so many examples of educide against Palestinians over decades. Stop playing the victim here. It is so embarrassing.

Fania Oz-Salzberger 🇮🇱🟣⚖️ פניה עוז-זלצברגר

@faniaoz

2 months

Statement against the Boycott of Israeli Academics. Launched by a doctoral student at the Hebrew University, the list of signatories is very distinguished, and growing by the day.

147

575

2K

10

199

611

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

It is often claimed that string theory has caught so much attention because it is mathematically appealing. If so, that is not per se a good argument for it being a useful physics theory. Yet, this is not why strings get so much attention. The real reasons are: 1/12

25

134

591

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Er is een reden waarom wiskunde een aparte plaats inneemt binnen het onderwijs en niet zomaar een vak is zoals er andere vakken zijn. Wiskunde is de basis van ons logisch denken. Vaak wordt wiskunde verward met rekenen, terwijl dat slechts een klein aspect is van de wiskunde. 1/6

28

67

567

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

4

50

479

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

If I did the counting correctly then at my university there are about 80 profs in total doing research in philosophy & religion, but 5 profs in total in theoretical/math physics. Yet, who is blamed for working on things with no obvious direct measurable/technological impact? 1/4

30

27

449

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 month

Prof. R. Devliegher tijdens VRT journaal geeft expliciet toe dat de lockdown, mondmaskers, isolatie,...slecht waren voor algemene immuniteit en toename infectieziekten kan verklaren. Wie dat verkondigde, of zelfs gewoon in vraag stelde tijdens de coronacrisis werd weggelachen.

25

79

452

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 months

We often explain general relativity to the public using a curved sheet so they get the impression that the moon revolves around the Earth because space is curved. We say the weakness of the analogy is the dimension: we can visualise curvature in 2d not in higher d. Wrong. 1/3

26

37

424

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

6 months

295 candidates for a PhD position in our group. It grows every year. Not sure what to say. Great that people are so interested, on the other hand it shows how there is a lack of positions in abstract theoretical physics given the interest of young people.

24

26

415

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 months

David Tong will at some point have covered all topics of physics in his lecture notes. Now his notes on Standard Model physics are online! Kudos, for doing this and keeping it freely available.

6

67

376

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

5 months

So true

21

49

351

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

7 months

Colleagues writing latexcode to simulate Word documents, which are required for grant applications. You cannot be more theoretical physics than that.

16

20

296

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

To all curious minds out there: don't focus on the negativity. If you are curious about fundamental physics questions, study theoretical physics, particle physics, cosmology,...and enjoy! These fields do have a great future. But observational and theoretical progress can be slow

17

20

296

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

The physics behind relativity is the difficult bit, not the mathematics. Maybe the math was considered hard 100 years ago, today it is very standard. Yet students mostly fight with the math (and perhaps dont find the time to see the depth of the physics).

11

25

276

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 months

Research should not feel like a job, but like a hobby you can obsess about and get paid for.

15

32

275

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

7

44

252

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

10 months

What Hamas did was not an act of heroic Palestinian resistance; it was the cowardice killing of young people partying, the killing of civilians in their homes. Palestinians undeniably must have the right to self-defense, the right to organise themselves as a military, 1/4

16

30

250

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

2

27

247

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

5 months

In the category of highly specialized memes. (Thanks to @holographythms for his in-depth meme knowledge)

14

41

253

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

10 months

Hey people: it is possible to strongly condemn the attack of Hamas on civilians and to support Palestinian resistance at the same time. I wish opinions in the world were not always so simplistic.

31

18

242

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

mathematicians submitting their research paper and getting it published in a journal

2

10

226

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

4

19

226

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

On hot summer days the office door and windows remain open for some airflow. That is when nuclear physics actually finds it use and prevents the door from closing.

19

6

219

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

The reason many talks at high energy theory conferences are so difficult to follow, is probably because we massively suffer from the imposter syndrome in our field and believe the talks should be as technical as the others....or it is just me not being smart enough?

29

14

216

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Finishing a grant proposal with a very concrete schedule, milestones, working packages and risk analysis,.... Because, clearly, this is how research in theoretical physics happens.

17

15

213

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Impressive book from @HaroldErbin made freely available on arxiv on a topic we always tell ourselves we should learn, but it never happens somehow. Please consider buying the book as well.

String Field Theory -- A Modern Introduction

This book provides an introduction to string field theory (SFT). String theory is usually formulated in the worldsheet formalism, which describes a single string (first-quantization). While this...

arxiv.org

8

35

212

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 month

With 800 KUL people during exam time ❤️❤️❤️🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

67

18

202

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

This song about string theory not making measurable predictions, is getting so boring and yet keeps on being played. For the last(?) time: THIS IS SIMPLY A CONSEQUENCE OF GRAVITY BEING SO WEAK. If other quantum gravity theories exist, they will share this property.

41

11

207

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

4 months

I received many compliments for this paper on the history of Quantum Gravity as an EFT, & beyond. I want to emphasize I'm just a contributing author (wrote section 4). Alessio is the knowledgeable person here who did a great job digging into the history.

The Quantum Theory Of Gravitation, Effective Field Theories, and...

This paper analyzes the effective field theory perspective on modern physics through the lens of the quantum theory of gravitational interaction. The historical part argues that the search for a...

arxiv.org

4

26

201

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

Ik blijf het moeilijk vinden hoe iemand als Van Ranst in deze post-pandemie tijden nog steeds wordt gelauwerd en de kritische maar wetenschappelijke stemmen als @TijlDeBie nog steeds worden afgedaan als non-experts met irrelevante mening. 1/3

8

9

193

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

Een illustratie aan de hand van recente nieuwsberichten die de noodzaak van het #Wintermanifest aantonen.

6

49

190

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 months

Western media today: '4 hostages freed by Israeli army'. Sorry. The news should be: 'Over 200 Palestinians killed in Israeli action' . Stop this disproportionate news coverage revealing your racist views.

47

44

187

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

Juan Maldacena will be awarded an honorary doctorate at the KU Leuven!

2

18

191

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 month

Pretty much sums up string phenomenology

2

17

189

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

Some people need to hear this: not all scientists (especially PhD students) need to be science communicators. Neither does a (PhD) grant paid from tax money imply they all have the moral duty to explain the lay man what they do.

16

17

184

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

6 months

The common theme in Sabine's posts is that one cannot be curious about constants in Nature. To all young people out there: be curious! Things are not just what they are. This is what the history of physics has taught us. But sometimes one needs patience.

13

17

180

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 months

You want to go wild in the acknowledgements, your collaborators say no, but you still go for it...

10

8

179

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Ik heb sympathie voor links gedachtengoed, maar ecologisten die pas tevreden zijn met klimaatbeleid als het ook anti-kapitalistisch is, maken veel kapot. Ik vrees dat hun anti-nucleaire dogmas voortkomen uit de schrik dat technologische ingrepen wel degelijk kunnen helpen.

15

17

177

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

5 months

💯

2

15

179

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

It took us blood, sweat and tears, but I am happy with the final result!

Trustworthy de Sitter compactifications of string theory: a...

We attempt to review all trustworthy and well-controlled de Sitter compactifications of string theory.

arxiv.org

24

17

176

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 month

Video of prof in theoretical physics supervising starting PhD students.

Historic Vids

@historyinmemes

1 month

How 90s parents taught kids how to swim

580

5K

46K

5

12

174

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

9 months

The "quantum leaps" in the history of science did not come from people who regarded research as a 9-5 job, neither from workaholics who work as much as they can, but from people who were passionately curious.

10

13

173

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

Nu dat de data duidelijkheid schept in het feit dat de solidariteit van vaccinaties vooral in ontlasting zorg zit en niet zozeer in reductie transmissie, kunnen we dan terug niet-gevaccineerde zorgverleners hun werk laten doen?

8

23

167

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

4 months

From now onward we shall no longer study the harmonic oscillator, the Ising model, the mathematical pendulum,...none of them exist. Sheeple wake up.

Sabine Hossenfelder

@skdh

4 months

@Kaju_Nut @ErikHofvander Yes, that's exactly the string theory speak that I am used to, bla bla lessons bla bla any universe is good. It's time that you wake up. Mice at least exist. AdS does not.

6

1

22

14

12

169

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

I just learned that Jim Hartle unfortunately passed away. You can learn more about him here He visited us a few times in Leuven and I remember him being a very pleasant and friendly person to talk to.

10

46

171

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 months

The curvature of space, which is *extremely weak* around the Earth, gives deviations from Newtons predicted motion which are not measurable for the Moon. So, no, the motion around the Earth is not due to curvature of space as in the picture. It is due to warped time.

21

8

166

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

Interesting suggestion, but the title is misleading. Gravity can be quantised. String theory made that explicit. Whether that means strings describe our reality is something else. But gravity can definitely be quantised in a uv complete manner.

Quanta Magazine

@QuantaMagazine

1 year

What if gravity — and space-time — are fundamentally classical?

29

111

485

19

164

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

Rumour has it that @nanograv confirmed some basic predictions of quantum gravity alternatives to string theory

13

11

161

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

Since the Big Bang is a hot topic these days, a reminder to all. Nothing, but literally nothing in physics points to the Big Bang being the "beginning of time". It only points to a moment in history where understanding the laws of nature require full blown quantum gravity.

19

28

165

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 months

Student encampment started today at @KU_Leuven . Much love to these students who stand up to injustice! One of their demands is that we immediately stop all institutional collaboration with the Apartheid regime.

17

38

157

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

0

30

161

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

2

22

163

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

6 months

Helping one of the children with math homework. They learn that (-a). (-b) = a.b. But not why. They have seen the distributive law as a rule. Why not explain one follows from the other? Math should not appear as a bunch of rules that need to be applied.

29

11

158

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Met statements als deze is mijn beslissing nu zeker. @Groen heeft mijn stem niet meer. Ik ben op zoek naar een progressieve partij die staat voor een solidaire, moderne, multiculturele samenleving die de uitdagingen van de toekomst met open blik wil aangaan. Please help.

23

6

159

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

"If it cannot be measured it is not science". Is an intellectually lazy and populist slogan especially when applied to modern high energy physics. First, the critics lump non-measurable features of say multi-verse ideas with say string theory. Wrong. String theory is measurable.

11

15

151

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 months

The picture (analogy) is misleading on a elementary level. The moon would revolve around the Earth in almost exactly the same way if 3d space is completely flat. It is the warping of time instead that causes the elliptic motion.

2

5

149

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

9 months

Some students at my university and some colleagues in our field whom I appreciate much, have expressed disappointment regarding my opinion on what is happening in Gaza.

24

7

148

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

4

23

147

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Sometimes pure theoretical consistency is extremely constraining. You cannot just invent theories of quantum gravity. Almost nothing works. Unfortunately she is unable or unwilling to communicate this to the general public and she is damaging many young and eager minds.

14

6

145

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

June 7 will be livestreamed at .

7

31

142

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 month

Discussions over the years about string theory makes it clear to me that, despite excellent books like @WhyStringTheory , there is a significant misunderstanding by the public, probably due to Hossenfelder& co. I am tempted to write a small book, 50 pages should be sufficient.

28

5

143

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Each time the criticism relies on the same mechanism, analogues to populism in politics. She focuses on an issue which people in the field agree on is an issue, and then magnifies it & projects it to the whole field. (There is a corrupt politician --> all politicians are corrupt)

7

3

143

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Guess what: this is how observational science works. You exclude regions of parameter space by measurements. Even in absence of a theoretical model, this can be useful. Keep on measuring! Keep on learning about Nature!

Sabine Hossenfelder

@skdh

2 years

And guess what, they didn't find those particles...

64

45

329

15

11

144

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

8 months

For physicists this usually ends with studying the interpretation of quantum mechanics.

PHD Comics

@PHDcomics

8 months

Intellectual Freedom?

38

1K

6K

10

139

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Some things here are familiar :)

3

13

143

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

A🧵about a fundamental question in holography that recently gained attention and which I consider to be profound. One way to think of AdS/CFT is to say that a conformal field theory in d dimensions can be seen as describing gravity (Einstein's equations) in d+1 dimensions.

11

28

142

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

If the meme would be true, physics would have never happened and still be in the parking spot with the driver pondering whether the road is well defined.

Steve McCormick

@Quasilocal

1 year

24

107

991

11

141

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

de Sitter constructions in string theory be like

6

13

143

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

I am so disappointed by this tweet (thread). It is too easy to use a sadly (wrongly?) formulated version of a deep physics problem to dismiss it entirely and then get all the likes from non-experts who love a good Hollywood story of one person fighting the system. Please don't.

Sabine Hossenfelder

@skdh

3 years

The alleged "fine-tuning problems" are not scientific problems. They are aesthetic problems. High energy physicists still don't understand that the laws of nature are under no obligation to be pretty.

38

41

286

17

13

138

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

7

12

141

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

5 months

IDF shooting at people gathering near food trucks because they were desperate for food: >100 killed and >700 wounded. Still people get angry when you mention the word genocide. Still people insist on condemning Hamas in every conversation about Palestine.

18

24

135

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

The layman of course loves this, because they can only follow these discussions from a larger distance, and then it makes easy clickbait or makes one sell books well. Yet, all the issues she tries to raise are highly complicated and nuance is key.

6

3

138

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

Ik ben die anti-kern buikgevoelens zo moe. Wil je klimaatverandering serieus nemen gaat het om hoeveel fossiel we NU verbranden, niet binnen 10 of 20 of 30 jaar @TinneVdS

11

17

136

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

Got this one from one of our phd students

9

13

138

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

More students want to obtain a double masters physics/math, because they believe it is necessary or better for conducting research at the PhD level in theory. It is not. The whole point of research is learning while doing. You do not study first and then do research.

11

17

136

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

4 months

If Jesus would be alive today he would be so into string theory.

22

21

135

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

@Quasilocal

0

14

132

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 years

Another appreciation for theoretical physics today!!

2

5

133

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Ready to go on stage for your physics conference talk, but then you spot Ed Witten in the audience.

Steve Stewart-Williams

@SteveStuWill

2 years

Gorilla vs. cold water 😂😂

24

159

1K

3

9

132

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

3 months

Israel is attacking Rafah now, even despite the statement by Hamas to accept the cease fire deal of Qatar and co. Israel wants death and destruction. Nobody can and should accept this violence based on deep rooted racism. Time for change, permanent change.

7

42

127

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

10 months

So it seems the physics Nobel prize became an engineering Nobel prize #inflammatorytweet

29

16

130

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

10 months

Hot take: all fields of science should use alphabetical ordering for authors.

29

6

126

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

1 year

0

15

124

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

8 months

Hard questions in the early morning. Should I sleep longer? Have we found all quantum gravities in 10d with 32 supercharges?

10

9

125

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Wiskunde is speciaal, laten we dat gewoon even aanvaarden. Misschien is het meest hemeltergende nog de uitspraak: "Ik ben eerder het creatieve type en niet zo het wiskundige type". Er zijn weinig disciplines die zo direct inspelen op de creativiteit als wiskunde. 4/6

3

4

123

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

niet oplossen zonder technische vooruitgang en logische/rationele beslissingen van politici die op statistieken zijn gebaseerd. En neen, meer wiskunde wil niet zeggen een minder sociaal-voelende maatschappij, laten we ophouden met die clichés. 6/6

7

4

124

Thomas Van Riet

@ThomasVanRiet2

2 years

Ex 2): She pretends as if particle physics is a game with no end. It is not. Many principle constrain it. Funny enough the "excessive freedom" is exactly what drives string theorists to study UV completion and how it constraints low-energy physics. We are learning, takes time.

2

3

123