2010-08-29
Explanation
This single-panel comic with a caption explores the tension between theoretical and experimental physics. A theoretical physicist tells an experimental physicist, "You just need to get the protons really close to each other! I told you that, like, thirty years ago and it's STILL not done?" The experimental physicist looks exasperated, with his head resting on his hand. The caption below reads: "This is why experimental scientists hate theoretical scientists."
The joke captures a real dynamic in physics: theoretical physicists can describe what needs to happen in elegant mathematical terms (such as achieving nuclear fusion by bringing protons close enough together to overcome their electrostatic repulsion), but actually making it happen in a laboratory is an enormously difficult engineering challenge that can take decades of work and billions of dollars. The theoretical physicist's frustration -- treating an incredibly complex experimental problem as if it were trivially simple -- perfectly encapsulates the condescension that experimentalists sometimes feel from their theoretical counterparts. The fact that the theorist said this "thirty years ago" likely alludes to the long-running quest for practical nuclear fusion, which has been "just around the corner" for decades.
The votey panel shows the experimental physicist standing in front of a board with a simple diagram labeled "CLOSE" (with two protons near each other) and "FAR" (with two protons spread apart), as if to say that yes, he understands the concept -- the difficulty is not in understanding what needs to happen, but in making it happen. His defeated expression says it all.