Science

usonian

(25,562 posts) Sat Aug 9, 2025, 12:41 AM Aug 2025

Happy 100th birthday, quantum mechanics!

https://www.quantamagazine.org/its-a-mess-a-brain-bending-trip-to-quantum-theorys-100th-birthday-party-20250808/

One hundred years to the month had passed since a 23-year-old postdoc named Werner Heisenberg was driven by a case of hay fever to Helgoland, a barren, windswept island in the North Sea. There, Heisenberg completed a calculation that would become the heart of quantum mechanics, a radical new theory of the atomic and subatomic world.

...

The morning after the banquet in Hamburg, the gathered physicists (and a handful of journalists) traveled by ferry to Helgoland to discuss where things stand a century after the theory’s birth.

Physicists need dramamine, too.

Nice.

Enjoy the tour of Quantum Theory.

6 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Happy 100th birthday, quantum mechanics! (Original Post) usonian Aug 2025 OP

Quantum Mechanics ultralite001 Aug 2025 #1

God does not play dice - Albert Einstein. speak easy Aug 2025 #2

This message was self-deleted by its author jfz9580m Sep 2025 #3

My journey into quantum physics ended with first year of grad school. usonian Sep 2025 #5

This message was self-deleted by its author jfz9580m Sep 2025 #6

This is a fun article. hunter Sep 2025 #4

ultralite001

(2,561 posts)

1. Quantum Mechanics

Reply to usonian (Original post)

Sat Aug 9, 2025, 02:00 AM

Aug 2025

Was the name of my fantasy football team…

speak easy

(12,598 posts)

2. God does not play dice - Albert Einstein.

Reply to usonian (Original post)

Sat Aug 9, 2025, 03:54 AM

Aug 2025

Response to usonian (Original post)

jfz9580m This message was self-deleted by its author.

usonian

(25,562 posts)

5. My journey into quantum physics ended with first year of grad school.

Reply to jfz9580m (Reply #3)

Wed Sep 10, 2025, 11:39 AM

Sep 2025

So, all I can venture is the uncertainty I feel before making a decision, and there's some evidence that the brain decides before I'm conscious of the decision. "Think" about that.

https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2019/03/our-brains-reveal-our-choices-before-were-even-aware-of-them--st

Outperform supercomputers? Can't say. I've banned them in my home.
My last month's electric bill just arrived in my mailbox, and it's super-sized.

Response to usonian (Reply #5)

jfz9580m This message was self-deleted by its author.

hunter

(40,727 posts)

4. This is a fun article.

Reply to usonian (Original post)

Wed Sep 10, 2025, 11:37 AM

Sep 2025

Personally, the Copenhagen interpretation irks me but I don't think we have to get our underwear all twisted in knots seeking some more "classical" deterministic model of the universe. Uncertainty doesn't frighten me.

My personal opinions and intuitions are useless of course, mere noise, since I'm unpracticed in most of the heavy math used to describe this stuff.

Reply to this discussion