Lee Smolin, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Abstract

Quantum physics is the golden child of modern science. It is the basis of our understanding of atoms, radiation, and so much else - from elementary particles and basic forces to the behaviour of materials. But for a century it has also been the problem child of science: it has been plagued by intense disagreements among its inventors, strange paradoxes, and implications that seem like the stuff of fantasy. Whether it’s Schrödinger’s cat - a creature that is simultaneously dead and alive - or a belief that the world does not exist independently of our observations of it, quantum theory challenges our fundamental assumptions about reality.   On April 17, in a special webcast talk based on his latest book, Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution, Lee Smolin will argue that the problems that have bedeviled quantum physics since its inception are unsolved and unsolvable for the simple reason that the theory is incomplete. There is more to quantum physics waiting to be discovered. Smolin will take the audience on a journey through the basics of quantum physics, introducing the stories of the experiments and figures that have transformed our understanding of the universe.