The double-slit experiment, according to Richard Feynman (Ѻ), is at the heart of central mystery of quantum mechanics. |
“The quanta then began to show up in other important physical theories: the photon theory of light-quanta (1905); the Bohr model of the atom (1913); the structure of spectroscopy (1916); and then, in 1925/26 the full-fledged quantum mechanics of Heisenberg and Schrodinger.”
“Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the "old one." I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice.”— Albert Einstein (1926), “Letter to Max Born”, Dec 4
“Renormalization is but sweeping the infinities under the rug.”— Paul Dirac (c.1930)
“Quantum theory reminds me a little of the system of delusions of an exceedingly intelligent paranoiac, concocted of incoherent elements of thoughts.”— Albert Einstein (1952), “Letter to D. Lipkin”, Jul 5
“The double slit experiment is at the heart of quantum mechanics and in reality it contains the only mystery about which we cannot explain how it works.”— Richard Feynman (1961), “Quantum Behavior”, Feynman Lectures, Ch. 37, Vol 1
“There was a time when the newspapers said that only twelve men understood the theory of relativity. I do not believe that there ever was such a time. There might have been a time when only one man did, because he was the only guy who caught on, before he wrote his paper. But after people read the paper a lot of people understood the theory of relativity in some way or other, certainly more than twelve. On the other hand I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. Do not keep saying to yourself, ‘But how can it be like that?’, because you will get ‘down the drain’, into a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped.”— Richard Feynman (1965), The Character of Physical Law (pg. 129)
“Quantum electrodynamics is simply a way to sweep the difficulties under the rug.”— Richard Feynman (1965), Nobel Prize speech
“It seems clear that the present quantum mechanics is not in its final form. Some further changes will be needed, just about as drastic as the changes made in passing from Bohr's orbit theory to quantum mechanics. Some day a new quantum mechanics, a relativistic one, will be discovered, in which we will not have these infinities occurring at all. It might very well be that the new quantum mechanics will have determinism in the way that Einstein wanted.”— Paul Dirac (1979)
“Modern physics is governed by that magnificent and thoroughly confusing discipline called quantum mechanics that has survived all tests, is believed to be flawless, but one that nobody understands.”— Murray Gell-Mann (1990), “Some Truer Method: Reflections on the Heritage of newton (pg. 51)
“The authors of physics textbooks are usually compelled to redo the work of the magicians so that they seem like sages; otherwise no reader would understand the physics. Planck was a magician in inventing his 1900 theory of heat radiation, and Einstein was playing the part of a magician when he proposed the idea of the photon in 1905. It is usually not difficult to understand the papers of the sage-physicists, but papers of magician-physicists are often incomprehensible. In this sense, Heisenberg’s 1925 paper was pure magic.”— Steven Weinberg (1992), Dreams of a Final Theory (pg. 68)
“Probably the best way to agitate a group of jaded but philosophically inclined physicists is to buy them a bottle of wine and mention interpretations of quantum mechanics. It is like opening a Pandora’s box. I have been amused to discover that the number of viewpoints often exceeds the number of participants.”— Artur Ekert (1995) “Pet Theories of Quantum Mechanics”
“It is daydreaming. What counts is what you see on the screen. Do not ask if the particle did follow some continuous path. We do not know about that. Forget about it.?”— Martinus Veltman (2003), Facts and Mysteries in Elementary Particle Physics (pg. 90)