You might think a debate over a supposed "theory of everything" — between a surfer-physicist and a rock climber-mathematician, no less — would get some attention outside of scholarly circles.
But when Skip Garibaldi, a mathematician at Emory University, refuted a unified field theory proposed by A. Garrett Lisi, a physicist and surfing enthusiast, Garibaldi did not get much play in the popular press. Lisi floated the theory in 2007. His paper had not been peer-reviewed, but the Daily Telegraph nonetheless wrote it up, and The New Yorker profiled Lisi. Lisi was also invited to give a TED talk about his theory.
When Garibaldi published (with Jacques Distler, a particle physicist at the University of Texas) a rebuttal in a peer-reviewed journal, neither publication came knocking. The mainstream press, it appeared, would happily abide a Maui-dwelling iconoclast looking to upend the scientific establishment with a heady idea, but had little patience once the narrative turned into a wonky debate about the finer points.
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