How Smart is Ed Witten?

From Quanta article: A Physicist’s Physicist Ponders the Nature of Reality

Ed Witten is supposed to be the smartest physicist of our time, maybe of all times. What does that mean? How smart is then Ed? Well, let us listen to what Ed has to say about the Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in Physics coined by Eugene Wigner:

• It is uncanny how powerful mathematics is in understanding physics.
• Newton's inverse square law with its power two was only understood through Einstein's field equations of general relativity and then as the geometrical fact that the surface of a sphere scales with its radius squared. 

So what does Ed mean with uncanny? Instead of unreasonable? Well, uncanny means strange or mysterious. It does not seem to be very enlightening, rather the opposite but certainly in line with the accepted view that both quantum mechanics and general relativity as the two incompatible pillars of modern physics, are both strange. But what does it mean when the smartest physicist of all times is stating that physics is strange? Isn't that strange?

Next, concerning Newton's inverse square law, Ed does not seem to be well informed when stating that Einstein gives the first field equation for gravitation explaining the power lay, since this was done by Laplace in his monumental Celestial Mechanics in 5 volumes 1798-1827 in the form of the equation 

• $\Delta\phi (x) = 4\pi\rho (x)$           

with $\Delta$ the Laplacian differential operator with respect to a space coordinate $x$, and $\phi (x)$ is  the gravitational potential corresponding to the mass distribution $\rho (x)$. 

With $\rho (x)$ as a unit point source at $x=0$ the potential $\phi (x)=\frac{1}{\vert x\vert}$ with corresponding gravitational force scaling with $\vert x\vert^{-2}$ as the power two law. So Laplace explained the power two, long before Einstein.

How can it be that Ed has forgotten Laplace? Isn't that strange? 

Compare with recent posts on New Newtonian Cosmology. 

Here is an alternative view on math:

• The Reasonable Effectiveness of Computational Mathematics

Here is more of Ed's wisdom:

• Mathematics is the language in which the laws of physics are formulated.
• It is uncanny because it is as if the Universe has been created by a mathematician. Hahhah...
• Reality, as far as we can understand, is described by laws which are interesting and subtle mathematically.
• Calculus is universal.

Listen to Unzicker asking about Witten's responsibility as world-leading physicist:

• Are you not afraid of misleading 7 billion people?

Witten: Not at all! I think we should now go on to other questions.

Test question to Ed: What to say about global warming from human emission of CO2 from burning of fossil fuel?