A century ago, science went quantum. To celebrate, physicists are throwing a global, year-long party.
In 1925, quantum mechanics, the scientific theory that describes the unintuitive rules of physics on very small scales, began to crystallize in the minds of physicists. Beginning in that year, a series of monumental papers laid out the theory’s framework. Quantum physics has since permeated a wide range of scientific disciplines — explaining the periodic table, the lives and deaths of stars and more — and enabled technologies from the laser to the smartphone.
In honor of that century of progress, physicists are celebrating 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, as designated by the United Nations. The festivities kick off February 4 with an opening ceremony in Paris, and continue throughout the year with scientific conferences, public lectures and more, including QuantumFest, an event in March at the American Physical Society Global Physics Summit in Anaheim, Calif., featuring hands on activities and demonstrations.
Beginning around 1900, a variety of experiments and theoretical advances began unveiling bits and pieces of the puzzling quantum realm. Then, a 1925 paper by German physicist Werner Heisenberg, followed shortly thereafter by papers from others including Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger, turned the hodgepodge of hints into a cohesive picture.
“We still use those equations that were published in 1925 and ‘26,” says theoretical physicist Ana María Cetto of the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Institute of Physics in Mexico City. “And they have led to a huge amount of theoretical results and experimental results and technological applications.” The ensuing quantum revolution became the basis for much of modern physics.
In those all-important years, says quantum physicist Smitha Vishveshwara of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, “the…
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