God plays dice with the world. The story of quantum mechanics

September 23, 2025
3:00pm to 4:00pm

Blue Room

General Public
Speaker: 
Giuseppe Mussardo
Institution: 
SISSA & INFN
Location&Place: 

Blue Room

Abstract: 

What is matter? A question that has fascinated—and at times tormented—some of the brightest minds of the twentieth century. Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, Wolfgang Pauli, and Paul Dirac all grappled with it, debating fiercely, colliding over equations and experiments, in their attempt to decipher the very essence of physical reality. Out of this intellectual struggle was born quantum mechanics, a theory that unveils a microscopic universe ruled by probability—an outcome that Einstein found so unsettling that he refused to accept its philosophical implications.

A century after its first complete formulation, in the seminar we retrace the history of this scientific revolution through its protagonists and its places: from the hushed courtyards of Cambridge colleges to the windswept cliffs of Helgoland, amid biographies worthy of an adventure novel and exchanges of fiery letters. The result is a captivating narrative that pays tribute to an unrepeatable season in the history of science.