The Worst Prediction in Physics?

Abstract

By and large, contemporary physics theories do a pretty good job of describing the world around us. Sure, there is the occasional infinity when someone uses Coulomb’s law to calculate the force between two objects with zero separation, but that is just a case of a model being pushed into a realm in which it no longer applies. However, there are instances in which a prediction of a valid physical quantity is staggeringly wrong. In a case of cosmic irony, there is a mundane example which could well be the worst prediction in physics. This incredible disagreement occurs when the simplest imaginable calculation is performed: the energy of empty space.