Quantum collision: fallen Europe and the roots of quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a branch of science concerning the behavior of subatomic particles. The beginnings of quantum hatched in the early 20th century when Max Planck challenged the idea of classical physics that light behaves as a wave. Instead, he proposed that electromagnetic emission was given off in "packets" called quanta. And so we launched off into an age of groundbreaking discoveries and mind-bending theories.

And while these science-happenings rarely concerned the general public directly, they wouldn't have been possible without the social climate of early 20th-century Europe. Before the war, tensions were tight as social upheavals and the overwhelming fumes of nationalism plagued the Western countries. Alas, all hell broke loose and the gilded dreams of power and prosperity crashed miserably in the trenches of World War I. Afterwards, the general mindset of Europeans was one of total dismay and disbelief. Anger, denial, and utter shock at the atrocities manifested themselves in the humanities of the time period. But physics, too, was no exception.

In this almost "anything-goes" climate, quantum mechanics broke our modern perceptions of reality and shamelessly defied the concrete, empirical facade of science and its seemingly astute handle on "truth". A few examples may illustrate:

• Einstein proposed that light behaved as particulate matter called photons. Nine years later, Robert Millikan provided experimental evidence, making quantized light more than just a philosophical discussion.
• De Broglie proposed that matter behaves as waves, in response to Einstein's theory. (Yes, dear reader, even you are a wave. Just a very tiny one.) 
• Heisenberg, in his uncertainty principle, proposed that you can't actually identify the electron in real-time. Rather, the more you know about its velocity, the less you know about it's position. 
• Boltzmann mathematically connected the random states of particles and the entropy of the universe-- or in other words, its tendency to hurl ever-speedily into disorder-- and supported the idea of quantized energy states.

(And did I even touch the ideas of relativity? No.)

Einstein himself was unhappy about these theories' reliance upon randomness. He famously stated, "God does not play dice!". He was searching and scraping, perhaps just hoping for a "hidden variable" that could explain the strange nature of nature. But as of yet, no one has disproved these theories, and nature remains as a product of total unpredictability.

One can already see why quantum mechanics fit the chaos-filled setting of a world post-war. Things we saw as so complete and sure-- matter itself-- collapsed in artillery shells and subatomic particles.

"God does not play dice!"

Image credit: http://www.hawking.org.uk/does-god-play-dice.html