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Overview
Quantum mechanics describes the behaviour of matter and light at atomic and subatomic scales. It replaced the smooth, deterministic picture of classical physics with one in which energy comes in discrete amounts, particles show wave-like behaviour, and outcomes of measurement are predicted only as probabilities. It is the most precisely tested theory in science and underlies chemistry, electronics, lasers and medical imaging, yet its meaning is still argued over.
Context
By 1900 classical physics explained a great deal, but a few problems resisted it, including the spectrum of radiation from hot bodies and the stability of atoms. Experiments on the interaction of light and matter in the 1890s and early 1900s pushed physicists toward new ideas. The theory was developed mainly by European physicists between about 1900 and 1927, in the years before the Second World War.
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Curator's notes
- Why it matters
- Reality at small scales is probabilistic
- What to read
- Carlo Rovelli, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
- Breakthrough
- Quantum mechanics
- Who (date)
- Planck, Bohr, Heisenberg (1900 – 1927)
- What it changed
- Reality at small scales is probabilistic
- Accessible reading
- Carlo Rovelli, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
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