Quantum theory cannot hurt you

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• Thursday 15 September 2011
• 7.00pm to 8.30pm
• Lecturers: Manjit Kumar Marcus Chown

The two towering achievements of modern physics are quantum theory and Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Together, they explain virtually everything about the world we live in but, almost a century on, most people haven’t the slightest clue what either is about.

For most people, quantum theory is a byword for mysterious, impenetrable science and yet for many years, it was equally baffling for scientists themselves. Because quantum theory is weird! In 1905 Albert Einstein suggested that light was a particle, not a wave – a pronouncement which defies a century of experiments. Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and Erwin Schrödinger’s famous dead-and-alive cat are similarly strange. As Niels Bohr said, if you weren’t shocked by quantum theory, you didn’t really understand it.

Join Marcus Chown and Manjit Kumar as they cover the personalities whose lives were dedicated to understanding the most baffling scientific discoveries ever and offer a crash course on how to understand quantum theory.

Tickets: £10 standard, £7 Concessions and £5 Ri Members.
Schools can book at a discounted rate. Please call the events team on 020 7409 2992 for further information.

Make a night of it! Come for a cocktail or something delicious, modern and British to eat at Time & Space.