BIG READ: The cold comforts of quantum
In 1925 Max Born used the term ‘quantum mechanics’ for the first time, but 100 years later its core mysteries have yet to solved
In 1963 the young Sir Roger Penrose, today regarded by many as the world’s leading living physicist, was on a research fellowship in the US when John F Kennedy was assassinated. The talk all day long was about the latest conspiracy theories and there was barely any response when he asked his peers for help with a proper theory, a mathematical one of his own.
Miffed, he chose to travel to a particular destination with a Hungarian member of the party, known for his reluctance to speak English, and his reluctance to speak at all. On the silent drive Penrose’s problem was solved, when a ray of light literally hit him through the windscreen. He knew then he had to replace the point of light in his calculations with a ray to add a fifth dimension to the four of the space-time continuum we know in our daily lives...
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