Supergravity: Finite after all?

The basic problem in formulating a quantum theory of gravity was already recognized in the earliest approaches to the problem back in the 1930s: the dimensional character of Newton's constant gives rise to ultraviolet-divergent quantum-correction integrals. Now advances in theoretical computation raise again the possibility that maximal supergravity might be free of the ultraviolet divergences that have plagued quantum gravity theories with puzzling implications for string theory.