The Equation That Changed How Physicists Think About Reality | Juan Maldacena
From Into the Impossible With Brian Keating by Big Bang Productions Inc.
May 7, 2026 · 41 min
About this episode
Juan Maldacena discusses groundbreaking concepts in theoretical physics, including wormholes, black holes, and the origins of the universe.
Juan Maldacena is a theoretical physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study whose 1997 paper remains the most cited in the history of theoretical physics. We cover: -why wormholes and quantum entanglement may be the same thing -what actually happens to information when you throw something into a black hole -the reason Hawking radiation accidentally gave cosmologists the equation that explains why the universe has structure -whether science-fiction wormholes are ruled out by the laws of physics -the one unsolved problem Juan says matters more than black holes. The most important problem in quantum gravity is understanding the beginning of the Big Bang — not black holes. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 What If Einstein's Two Strangest Ideas Were One? 01:15 Juan Maldacena: The Most Cited Physicist Alive 03:25 What Would Einstein Most Want to Know Today? 07:45 The Holographic Principle Explained 09:20 What Happens When You Throw a Laptop Into a Black Hole? 11:00 Is Information Actually Lost Forever? 12:25 The Problem Juan Wants to Solve Before He Dies 13:50 Why Real Black Holes Don't Emit Hawking Radiation 15:25 How Black Hole Physics Accidentally Explained the Universe 17:00 Could Primordial…
People in this episode
Host: Brian Keating
Guest: Juan Maldacena
Topics covered
- quantum entanglement
- black holes
- Hawking radiation
- wormholes
- quantum gravity
- Big Bang
Keywords
- theoretical physics
- wormholes
- quantum entanglement
- black holes
- Hawking radiation
- Big Bang
- quantum gravity
- AdS/CFT
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Institute for Advanced Study
Books & works: The Holographic Principle, AdS/CFT
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