{"id":136,"date":"2012-12-27T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2012-12-27T17:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/?p=136"},"modified":"2012-12-27T09:00:34","modified_gmt":"2012-12-27T17:00:34","slug":"stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"Stepping stones or the value of theory"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"photo<\/a>

\"Way In The Lake\" by Evgeni Dinev<\/p><\/div>\n

When invited to present colloquia talks, I usually talk about atomic clocks and I am sometimes asked what a theorist is doing in this highly experimental field. I was thinking about this question for a while and then I was on a plane browsing through an in-flight catalog (you know the one that\u00a0advertises\u00a0stuff that you may want but really do not need) and I realized how to answer this question.<\/p>\n

There was an ad for a\u00a0beautiful wristwatch accompanied by a story on the fine craft \u00a0of clockmaking. The story was comparing making a wristwatch to building a skyscraper out of matchsticks. So I thought, by that account, experimentalists working on atomic clocks are performing miracles. And if these\u00a0\u00a0experimentalists are walking on water, my role as a theorist is to show them where the stepping stones are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When invited to present colloquia talks, I usually talk about atomic clocks and I am sometimes asked what a theorist is doing in this highly experimental field. I was thinking about this question for a while and then I was on a plane browsing through an in-flight catalog (you know the one that\u00a0advertises\u00a0stuff that you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,12],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atomic-clocks","category-physics","tag-theory-vs-experiment"],"yoast_head":"\nStepping stones or the value of theory - Derevianko Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stepping stones or the value of theory - Derevianko Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When invited to present colloquia talks, I usually talk about atomic clocks and I am sometimes asked what a theorist is doing in this highly experimental field. I was thinking about this question for a while and then I was on a plane browsing through an in-flight catalog (you know the one that\u00a0advertises\u00a0stuff that you […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Derevianko Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-27T17:00:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-27T17:00:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10022789-199x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andrei Derevianko\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andrei Derevianko\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Andrei Derevianko\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b1937b0e53a2496fbd701dec5ccb395\"},\"headline\":\"Stepping stones or the value of theory\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-27T17:00:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-27T17:00:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":161,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/12\\\/ID-10022789-199x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"theory vs experiment\"],\"articleSection\":[\"atomic clocks\",\"physics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\\\/\",\"name\":\"Stepping stones or the value of theory - Derevianko Group\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/12\\\/ID-10022789-199x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-27T17:00:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-27T17:00:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b1937b0e53a2496fbd701dec5ccb395\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/12\\\/ID-10022789.jpg?fit=266%2C400&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/12\\\/ID-10022789.jpg?fit=266%2C400&ssl=1\",\"width\":266,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"\\\"Way In The Lake\\\" by Evgeni Dinev\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/\",\"name\":\"Derevianko Group\",\"description\":\"The home of theoretical physics group and GPS.DM observatory at the University of Nevada, Reno\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b1937b0e53a2496fbd701dec5ccb395\",\"name\":\"Andrei Derevianko\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9f71afbad6c6444e8740e4d22973afec881f20396e22be1b91974391e9e3e7cc?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9f71afbad6c6444e8740e4d22973afec881f20396e22be1b91974391e9e3e7cc?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9f71afbad6c6444e8740e4d22973afec881f20396e22be1b91974391e9e3e7cc?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andrei Derevianko\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dereviankogroup.com\\\/dereviankogroup\\\/rightthere\\\/author\\\/apd117dg\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stepping stones or the value of theory - Derevianko Group","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stepping stones or the value of theory - Derevianko Group","og_description":"When invited to present colloquia talks, I usually talk about atomic clocks and I am sometimes asked what a theorist is doing in this highly experimental field. I was thinking about this question for a while and then I was on a plane browsing through an in-flight catalog (you know the one that\u00a0advertises\u00a0stuff that you […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/","og_site_name":"Derevianko Group","article_published_time":"2012-12-27T17:00:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-12-27T17:00:34+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10022789-199x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Andrei Derevianko","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andrei Derevianko","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/"},"author":{"name":"Andrei Derevianko","@id":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/#\/schema\/person\/1b1937b0e53a2496fbd701dec5ccb395"},"headline":"Stepping stones or the value of theory","datePublished":"2012-12-27T17:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-27T17:00:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/"},"wordCount":161,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10022789-199x300.jpg","keywords":["theory vs experiment"],"articleSection":["atomic clocks","physics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/","name":"Stepping stones or the value of theory - Derevianko Group","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10022789-199x300.jpg","datePublished":"2012-12-27T17:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-27T17:00:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/#\/schema\/person\/1b1937b0e53a2496fbd701dec5ccb395"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/stepping-stones-or-the-value-of-theory\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10022789.jpg?fit=266%2C400&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ID-10022789.jpg?fit=266%2C400&ssl=1","width":266,"height":400,"caption":"\"Way In The Lake\" by Evgeni Dinev"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/","name":"Derevianko Group","description":"The home of theoretical physics group and GPS.DM observatory at the University of Nevada, Reno","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/#\/schema\/person\/1b1937b0e53a2496fbd701dec5ccb395","name":"Andrei Derevianko","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f71afbad6c6444e8740e4d22973afec881f20396e22be1b91974391e9e3e7cc?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f71afbad6c6444e8740e4d22973afec881f20396e22be1b91974391e9e3e7cc?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9f71afbad6c6444e8740e4d22973afec881f20396e22be1b91974391e9e3e7cc?s=96&r=g","caption":"Andrei Derevianko"},"url":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/author\/apd117dg\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Z9xm-2c","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":285,"href":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions\/285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dereviankogroup.com\/dereviankogroup\/rightthere\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}