⏳ 125 Years of Quantum Discoveries
From a medieval scholar in Cairo to Nobel Prizes for quantum chips — the people, experiments and breakthroughs behind the quantum world.
- 💭c. 1011Theory
Ibn al-Haytham
The Book of Optics
Light travels from objects into the eye; ideas must be tested by experiment.
🔬 How Small Is Small? → - 🧪1801Experiment
Thomas Young
Light interferes
The double-slit experiment shows light behaves as a wave.
🌊 Waves or Particles? Both! → - 🔭1897Discovery
J. J. Thomson
The electron
The first particle smaller than an atom.
🔬 How Small Is Small? → - 💭1900Theory
Max Planck
Energy quanta — quantum physics is born
E = hf solves the blackbody puzzle.
🔥 Energy Comes in Packets → - 💭1905Theory
Albert Einstein
Light quanta (photons)
Explains the photoelectric effect; Nobel Prize 1921.
💡 Light Is Made of Particles → - 💭1913Theory
Niels Bohr
The quantum atom
Electrons on energy levels explain spectral lines.
🪜 The Atom's Energy Ladder → - 🧪1922Experiment
Stern & Gerlach
Two spots
Silver atoms split into exactly two beams: spin is quantised.
🧲 Spin: The Quantum Compass → - 💭1924Theory
Louis de Broglie
Matter waves
λ = h/p — electrons are waves too.
🌊 Waves or Particles? Both! → - 💭1925Theory
Heisenberg; Pauli
Quantum mechanics & exclusion principle
Heisenberg's matrix mechanics on the island of Helgoland; Pauli's rule that builds the periodic table.
🎯 The Uncertainty Principle → - 💭1926Theory
Schrödinger & Born
The wave equation & probabilities
ψ evolves by Schrödinger's equation; |ψ|² gives probabilities.
〰️ The Wave Function → - 🧪1927Experiment
Heisenberg; Davisson & Germer; Solvay
Uncertainty, electron waves, the great debate
The uncertainty principle; electron diffraction confirmed; Einstein and Bohr debate at the 5th Solvay Conference.
🎯 The Uncertainty Principle → - 💭1928Theory
Dirac; Gamow
Antimatter predicted; tunnelling explains decay
Dirac's equation predicts the positron (found 1932). Gamow explains alpha decay with tunnelling.
👻 Quantum Tunnelling → - 💭1935Theory
Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen; Schrödinger
EPR paradox & the cat
Entanglement is named — and doubted.
🔗 Entanglement: Spooky Connections → - ⚙️1947Technology
Bardeen, Brattain & Shockley
The transistor
The quantum device behind every chip.
📱 Quantum in Your Pocket → - ⚙️1960Technology
Theodore Maiman
The first laser
A ruby crystal turns stimulated emission into a beam.
📱 Quantum in Your Pocket → - 💭1964Theory
John Stewart Bell
Bell's theorem
A way to test Einstein vs. Bohr in the lab.
🔗 Entanglement: Spooky Connections → - 💭1981Theory
Feynman; Binnig & Rohrer
Quantum computing idea; tunnelling microscope
Feynman proposes quantum simulators; the STM images single atoms.
🖥️ Quantum Computers & the Future → - 🧪1982Experiment
Alain Aspect
Bell inequalities violated
Entangled photons defy “hidden instructions”.
🔗 Entanglement: Spooky Connections → - ⚙️1984Technology
Bennett & Brassard
BB84 quantum cryptography
Eavesdropping becomes detectable.
🖥️ Quantum Computers & the Future → - 💭1994Theory
Peter Shor
Shor's algorithm
Quantum computers could factor huge numbers.
🖥️ Quantum Computers & the Future → - 🏅2022Nobel / Milestone
Aspect, Clauser & Zeilinger
Nobel Prize for entanglement
Honouring the experiments that launched quantum information science.
🔗 Entanglement: Spooky Connections → - 🏅2025Nobel / Milestone
UN · Clarke, Devoret & Martinis
Quantum Year & macroscopic tunnelling Nobel
100 years of quantum mechanics celebrated worldwide; a Nobel for quantum effects in a chip-sized circuit.
👻 Quantum Tunnelling →