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It is often stated that of all the theories proposed in this century, the silliest is quantum theory. In fact, some say that the only thing that quantum theory has going for it is that it is unquestionably correct. Michio Kaku, Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey
Common sense has no place in the quantum world. Michio Kaku
Everything about Quantum Theory revolted Einstein. Michio Kaku
In the bizarre quantum world we have electrons that literally disappear, reappear some place else. Electrons that can be in multiple places at the same time. Maicho Kaku, author Physics of the Impossible
Each vibration of the string corresponds to a particle. Therefore string theory is a quantum theory. The jumble of particles we see is nothing but the jumble of notes vibrating on the string. Michio Kaku
We do not know why they [elementary particles] have the masses they do. We do not know why they transform into another the way they do. We do not know anything! The only concept that stands like the Rock of Gibraltar in our sea of confusion is the Pauli Principle. George Gamow, cited Scientific American July 1959
Hawking was going to have to unify the two great but very different theories of physics – Einstein’s theory of relativity is the theory of the very large ... Quantum physics is the theory of the very small ... Hawking would have to force the two together. Stephen Hawking, Master of the Universe, Channel 4 2008
Inside the atoms, the universe was revealed to be a strange, chaotic place. Stephen Hawking’s Grand Design: The Key to the Cosmos, Discovery 2012
The tiny electrons appeared to be defying the laws of physics. ibid.
Sub-atomic level and you enter a world where conjuring something out of nothing is possible at least for a short while. That’s because at this scale particles such as protons behave according to the laws of Nature we call Quantum Mechanics. And they really can appear at random. Stephen Hawking, Did God Create the Universe?
The world of the minute has its own peculiar laws. And it was at this scale, millions of times smaller than a single atom, that the universe began. The study of the sub-atomic world is called Quantum Mechanics. Stephen Hawking’s Universe s1e6: Answer to Everything, BBC 1997
Think of it as a game of chance. Quantum mechanics is based on Werner Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. A sub-atomic particle is too small to see directly. We can never know with precision where something that small really is. But as it moves it traces a path we can try to predict. ibid.
The more accurately you try to measure the position of the particle, the less accurately you can measure its speed, and vice versa ... Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle is a fundamental, inescapable property of the world. Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time p61
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle ... The more I know about where something is, the less I know about how it is moving. In the Quantum world I cannot at the same time know both these quantities exactly. Jim Al-Khalili, Everything & Nothing: Nothing, BBC 2011
Heisenberg showed in his mathematics that this is an inescapable feature of reality on this scale. ibid.
If particles can pop into existence, where do they go? ibid.
By 1928 Physics was struggling with a big problem. The two most important theories that describe how the universe worked didn’t agree with each other. ibid.
So it seems nothingness is a seething mass of virtual particles. ibid.
Nothing really has shaped everything. And what’s more, we now have a way to see this. ibid.
The teeming seething activity of the vacuum of nothing, and the quantum fluctuations with it were the seeds – seeds which grew into the universe we see today. ibid.
One of the most complicated concepts in the whole of science but one that underpins the entire universe: Bohr described the atom not as a solar system but as a multi-storey building: the ground floor is where the nucleus lives with the electrons occupying the floors above. Mysterious laws mean the electrons can only live on the floors never in-between. And other mysterious laws mean that sometimes they can instantaneously jump from one floor to another. These are what we call Quantum Jumps. Jim Al-Khalili, Atom: The Clash of the Titans, BBC 2007
The old school reacted angrily. Leading the traditionalists was the giant from the Physics world, Albert Einstein. He hated Bohr’s ideas. And he was going to fight them. Anything to save the world of order and common sense from this assault by madness. ibid.
The question [Wolfgang] Pauli’s idea tried to answer was this: every atoms is made of the same simple components, so why do they appear to us in so many different guises, in such a rich variety of colours, textures and chemical properties? ibid.
He [Schrodinger] argued that the electron actually was the wave of energy vibrating so fast it looked like a cloud around the atom. A cloud-like wave of pure energy ... The equation he came up with we call Schrodinger’s wave equation. ibid.
If we know where an electron is at a particular moment in time, we cannot know how fast it is moving. But if we knew the speed, we wouldn’t know the position ... It became known as Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. ibid.
They’re self-contradictory, they behave both like particles and waves. And it gets weirder. When you’re not looking at an atom it behaves like a spread-out wave. But when you look to see where it is, it behaves like a particle. This is insane. ibid.
The quantum mechanical description of the atom is one of the crowning glories of human creativity. ibid.
The measurement problem ... An atom only appears in a particular place if you measure it. In other words an atom is spread out all over the place until a conscious observer decides to look at it. So the act of measurement or observation creates the entire universe. Jim Al-Khalili, Atom: The Illusion of Reality
Beneath the complexities of everyday life the rules of our universe seem reassuringly simple ... But as scientists peered deep into the tiny building blocks of matter all such certainty vanished. They found the weird world of quantum physics. Jim Al-Khalili, The Secrets of Quantum Physics: Einstein’s Nightmare, BBC 2014
In the realm of the very small, things can be in two places at once. ibid.
A battleground about the nature of reality itself. ibid.
I believe that quantum physics could hold many of life’s secrets. Jim Al-Khalili, The Secrets of Quantum Physics II: Let There Be Life
Life is a game of chance played by quantum rules. ibid.
Quantum Entanglement – it involved particles that seem to communicate faster than the speed of light. ibid.
The story of quantum biology is only just beginning. ibid.
Some believe that quantum non locality can be used to send messages back in time. Morgan Freeman’s Through the Wormhole s1e3: Is Time Travel Possible? Science 2010
Many quantum scientists believe there are an incalculable number of parallel universes. ibid.
This is impossible but true: we know how entanglement works but we do not know why it works. All we know is that reality down at the quantum level is not the reality we see around us. Morgan Freeman’s Through the Wormhole s2e7: How Does the Universe Work?
Quantum: Nothing is certain until an observer makes a measurement. Morgan Freeman’s Though the Wormhole s3e3: Is the Universe Alive?