change in all of the concepts of space and time. One should not underestimate the likely scope of this change.

String theory is now in the midst of intense theoretical development. Although it appears to have the potential of reproducing the Standard Model and explaining its structure and parameters, the understanding is too primitive to be able to make complete predictions about details of the Standard Model; however, the main qualitative properties of the Standard Model have been derived from string theory in a strikingly elegant way. Moreover, string theory requires the existence of both quantum mechanics and gravity, whereas previous theories in physics make it impossible to have both together; other general predictions of string theory are gauge invariance, which has been seen to be the bread and butter of the Standard Model, and supersymmetry, which is one of the main targets in the worldwide enterprise of particle physics. Many deep problems remain to be solved before the theory can be compared directly with experiment. Nonetheless string theory is testable by experiment. It would be easy for new experimental discoveries that did not fit into a straightforward extrapolation of the Standard Model to provide evidence that string theory is the wrong theory to follow. Conversely, the discovery of supersymmetry would be an important validation for string theory. In addition, this discovery would provide invaluable clues as to the mechanism of supersymmetry breaking that could help in unraveling the predictions of string theory.

Thus, we have the beginnings of a new theory of fundamental physics—string theory—whose full elucidation could be as revolutionary as the discovery of quantum mechanics or relativity.