Warped Passages - Lisa Randall [57]
And you may ask yourself,
Am I right?…Am I wrong?
Talking Heads
Ike wondered whether Athena was making him watch too many movies or Dieter was talking too much about physics. But whatever the reason, the previous night Ike dreamed he met a quantum detective. Dressed in a fedora, a trench coat, and with a stone-faced expression, the dream detective spoke:
“I knew nothing about her except her name, and that she was standing there before me. But from the moment I set eyes on her I knew Electra* would be trouble. When I asked her where she came from, she refused to say. The room had two entrances, and she must have come through one. But Electra whispered hoarsely, ‘Mister, forget it. I’ll never tell you which.’
“Although I saw that she was shaking, I tried to pin this lady down. But Electra paced frenetically when I started to approach. She begged me to come no closer. Seeing she was agitated, I kept away. I was no stranger to uncertainty, but this time it had me beat. It looked like uncertainty was going to stick around here for a while.”
Quantum mechanics, counterintuitive as it is, fundamentally altered the way scientists view the world. Much of modern science evolved from quantum mechanics: statistical mechanics, particle physics, chemistry, cosmology, molecular biology, evolutionary biology, and geology (through radioactive dating) were all either invented or revised as a result of its development. Many conveniences of the modern world, such as computers, DVD players, and digital cameras, wouldn’t be possible without the transistor and modern electronics, whose development relied on quantum phenomena.
I’m not sure I fully appreciated how weird quantum mechanics is when I first studied it in college. I learned the basic principles and could apply them in various contexts. But it wasn’t until I taught quantum mechanics many years later and carefully worked through quantum mechanical logic that I came to see just how fascinating it is. Although we can now teach quantum mechanics as part of the physics curriculum, it is nonetheless truly shocking.
The story of quantum mechanics beautifully exemplifies how science is supposed to evolve. Early quantum mechanics was done with a model building spirit—it addressed confusing observations even before anyone had formulated an underlying theory. Both experimental and theoretical advances happened fast and furiously. Physicists developed quantum theory to interpret experimental results that classical physics could not explain. And quantum theory, in turn, suggested further experiments with which to test hypotheses.
It took time for scientists to sort out the full implications of these experimental observations. The import of quantum mechanics was too radical for most scientists to immediately absorb. Scientists had to suspend their disbelief before they could accept the quantum mechanical premises, which were so different from familiar classical concepts. Even several of the theoretical pioneers, such as Max Planck, Erwin Schrödinger, and Albert Einstein, never really converted to the quantum mechanical way of thinking. Einstein voiced his objection in his famous remark, “God does not play dice with the universe.” Most scientists did eventually accept the truth (as we currently understand it), but not immediately.
The radical nature of the scientific advances in the early twentieth century reverberated in modern culture. The fundamentals of art and literature and our understanding of psychology all changed radically at the time. Although some attribute these developments to the upheaval and havoc of World War I, artists such as Wassily Kandinsky used the fact that the atom was penetrable to justify the idea that everything can change, and that in art, therefore, everything is allowed. Kandinsky described his reaction to the nuclear atom: “The collapse of the atom model was equivalent, in my soul, to the collapse of the whole world. Suddenly the thickest walls fell. I would not have been amazed if a stone appeared before