Exploring the 'spooky engine of the universe'

After feeling that nature was pretty well understood by the middle of the 19th century, physics was shaken by twin revolutions in the early 20th century, those of relativity and quantum mechanics. Of the two, relativity arose from new understandings of the geometry of space and time, and could be accommodated reasonably as an extension of classical physics. Quantum Mechanics, on the other hand, required new ways of thinking not related to classical physics, including the apparently irreducible role of randomness and probability, the seemingly bizarre role of the observer, and, above all, the phenomenon of superposition, which aroused deep suspicion in both Einstein and Schrödinger.

From very early, quantum mechanics was found to give highly accurate results that were verified by experiment. The seemingly arbitrary rules that had to be followed in making calculations received little attention during the 20th century, when physicists were concerned more with extending the machinery of quantum mechanics to new corners of the physical world, and less with trying to understand the underlying mechanisms of quantum mechanics that showed up as those arbitrary rules. The extension to new corners has been so successful that it is now accepted that quantum mechanics is the underlying framework for all of physical science, truly the engine of the universe.

There has been considerably less success in explaining why quantum mechanics works in such a “spooky” way. Slowly, however, those questions gained attention during the 20th century and more so in the 21st century. The result is that by 2024, many ideas have been proposed to describe the underpinnings of quantum mechanics, but we still seem to have some distance to go before a consensus emerges about what is really going on. 

In this talk, “Quantum Mechanics: The Spooky Engine of the Universe,” on Tuesday, October 22, Dr. Larry Price will give an overview of the concepts of quantum mechanics and then wrap up with the main ideas about what is going on underneath.

Dr. Price, a physicist specializing in elementary particles, holds degrees in physics from Pomona College (BA) and Harvard University (MA and PhD). He is retired from a career at Argonne National Laboratory, where he held the rank of senior physicist and was Director of the High Energy Physics Division. He has served on multiple national and international committees for particle physics and related fields, including the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel, the U.S. Federal Advisory Committee for elementary particle physics.   He is also a Board Member of the Sisters Science Club.

This event is part of the Frontiers in Science lecture series sponsored by the Sisters Science Club.

Social hour begins at 6 p.m. with light fare, beer, and wine available for purchase.   Admission is $5 at the door; teachers and students are admitted free. The Belfry is located at 302 E. Main Ave., Sisters. For information e-mail [email protected].