What is quantum mechanics? Well, weird. Very weird. The great quantum mechanics pioneer Niels Bohr said: “If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet.” How did the study of quantum mechanics come to be? Robert J. Marks discusses quantum mechanics with Dr. Enrique Blair.

Show Notes

• 00:41 | Introducing Dr. Enrique Blair, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Baylor University
• 01:16 | The experience of living on a submarine
• 02:55 | What is quantum mechanics?
• 03:46 | Einstein’s explanation of the photoelectric effect
• 04:40 | Assumption of quantized light — photons
• 04:56 | Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics
• 06:48 | John Polkinghorne on contradictions
• 07:41 | Young’s double slit experiment
• 08:38 | Planck’s explanation of black-body radiation
• 09:25 | Wave-particle duality
• 11:38 | Observation of photons
• 13:02 | Quantum superposition
• 13:57 | The theory of quantum mechanics (Schrödinger and Heisenberg)
• 15:39 | What is a wave function?
• 17:24 | Using quantum mechanics to generate truly random numbers
• 18:55 | Measurement changes the wave function
• 19:37 | Many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics
• 20:57 | Transforming wave functions with operators
• 21:37 | Schrödinger’s cat
• 24:28 | Why do we never see superpositions?
• 25:51 | Quantum decoherence

Additional Resources

• Enrique Blair’s website
• Niels Bohr at Encyclopædia Britannica
• Photoelectric effect at Encyclopædia Britannica
• Max Born at Encyclopædia Britannica
• Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics at Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Mystery Men at IMDB
• John Polkinghorne at Encyclopædia Britannica
• Young’s double-slit experiment at Encyclopædia Britannica
• Planck’s explanation of black-body radiation at Encyclopædia Britannica
• Wave-particle duality at Encyclopædia Britannica
• Quantum superposition at Wikipedia
• Nobel Prize in Physics 1932 — Werner Heisenberg
• Nobel Prize in Physics 1933 — Erwin Schrödinger
• Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics at Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Schrödinger’s cat at Wikipedia
• Quantum decoherence at Wikipedia