An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything

The physics world is on its ear this week, following the news that a PhD. physicist who is outside the academic establishment has published a simple, elegant Unified Theory of Everything.

Of course, many great discoveries have come from scientists outside the establishment. In the words of Pete Venkman: "Einstein did his best work as a patent clerk." The Unified Theory of Everything was Einstein's dream; it was what he worked towards until his death in 1955.

The paper is available as a PDF here, and I can't claim to understand what he wrote. But after reading what people have said about it, here's what I've got so far: Lisi used a geometric mathematical pattern made up of 248 interconnected points, called E8, to map out the relation between all 228 known particles and 20 predicted particles. Work is underway to determine the predicted characteristics of the 20 predicted new particles. The Large Hadron Collider may be able to test for these particles as soon as it comes online next year.

If this thing holds up, it could be the biggest discovery in particle physics since Relativity; a Unified Theory of Everything based on 1 dimension of time and 3 dimensions of space could fundamentally alter the way that we understand the Universe, much as relativity changed the way we understand gravity.