Quantum Physics for Poets Quotes

“Which of the two possibilities corresponds to reality is simply unknown until a definite measurement is made, at which point the quantum state instantaneously changes to reflect the result of that measurement.”
― Leon M. Lederman, Quantum Physics for Poets

“He saw that, ultimately, only possibilities for events and their probabilities of occurring, with intrinsic uncertainties, exist. This was the emerging new reality of quantum physics.”
― Leon M. Lederman, Quantum Physics for Poets

“Newton's equations of absolute exactitude and certainty ("classical determinism") were replaced by Schrodinger's new equations and Heisenberg's mathematics of fuzziness, indeterminacy, and probability.”
― Leon M. Lederman, Quantum Physics for Poets

“NATURE IS LUMPY”
― Leon M. Lederman, Quantum Physics for Poets

“Einstein cherished the belief that quantum theory was merely a stopgap, which would eventually be replaced by a theory that was deterministic and causal. Over the years, he made many clever attempts to show that uncertainty relations could be circumvented, but they were foiled, one by one, with relish, by Bohr.”
― Leon M. Lederman, Quantum Physics for Poets

“Schrodinger, for one, rejected it vehemently, regretting having devised the equation that gave rise to it.”
― Leon M. Lederman, Quantum Physics for Poets

“While Heisenberg had described the tusks and Schrodinger the trunk, the total elephant is so much more than its parts.”
― Leon M. Lederman, Quantum Physics for Poets

“Wolfgang Pauli, to seriously consider quitting in 1925. "For me," he wrote in exasperation to a colleague, "physics is too difficult and I wish that I were a film comedian or something similar and had never heard of physics.”
― Leon M. Lederman, Quantum Physics for Poets

“A single photon seems to "know" if there are two slits open or only one slit open and it behaves differently accordingly!”
― Leon M. Lederman, Quantum Physics for Poets

“The electrons seem eerily to take both paths at once if nothing is watching, but a definite path if someone or something is watching! These are not particles and not waves-they are both and neither-they are something new: They are quantum states.6”
― Leon M. Lederman, Quantum Physics for Poets

“Copenhagen”
― Leon M. Lederman, Quantum Physics for Poets

“One can see the probabilistic behavior of photons in ordinary everyday occurrences. Suppose you look at a window display at your favorite Victoria's Secret lingerie store. Superimposed over the shoes of the sexy mannequins you observe a faint image of yourself in the window. What is happening? Light is a stream of particles-photons-that produce a bizarre quantumlike result. Most of the photons-say, coming from a source like the Sun-reflect off your face and pass right through the store window, providing a clear image of you (handsome devil!) to anyone who happens to be on the other side of the window (the window mannequin dresser?). But some small fraction of the photons are reflected back from the glass to provide that dim image of you overlaying
the skimpy undergarments in the window display. All photons are identical, so why are”
― Leon M. Lederman, Quantum Physics for Poets