The Clash of the Titans: Albert Einstein VS Niels Bohr

 

<Solvay conference 1927- International Institute of Physics, Brussels, Belgium: Auguste Antoine Piccard, Emile Henroit, Edouard Herzen, Theophile Ernest De Donder, Erwin Schrodinger, Jules-Emile Verschaffelt, Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Werner Carl Heisenberg, Sir Ralph Howard Fowler, Leon Nicolas Brillouin, Peter Joseph William Debye, Martin Hans Christian Knudsen, Sir William Lawrence Bragg, Hendrik Anthony Kramers, Paul Dirac, Arthur Holly Crompton, Louis De Broglie, Max Born, Niels Hendrik David Bohr, Irving Langmuir, Max Planck, Marie Curie, Hendrik Lorentz, Albert Einstein, Paul Langevin, Charles Eugene Guye, Charles Wilson, Sir Owen Wilians Richardson>

In the world of 'Physics' from the 'Age of Enlightenment', Classical Mechanics have been a considerable part of our understanding. The Classical Mechanics, also known as 'Newtonian Mechanics' was founded by Sir Isaac Newton in the 17th Century - and since then it provides us the basic foundation of the Laws of Physics we observe and feel in our day to day life.

As time passed by, the Newtonian Mechanics failed to explain and eventually broke-down for objects moving at very high speeds-near the speed of light. To solve this issue Albert Einstein came along and proposed a theory in the 20th Century that could explain all the phenomenon that classical mechanics couldn't. He proposed the 'Theory of Relativity'. The 'Theory of Relativity' is a culmination of two inter-related theories: The 'General Theory of Relativity' & 'Special Theory of Relativity'. The General Relativity explains the 'Law of Gravitation' and its relation to other forces of nature, whereas the Special Relativity applies to all physical phenomenon in the absence of gravity. 

The 20th Century not only witnessed the 'Theory of Relativity' but also the 'Quantum Theory'. Danish physicist Niels Bohr and German theoretical physicist Max Planck are known as the founding fathers of the Quantum Theory.

Max Planck was a German theoretical physicist who published his ground-breaking study of 'Black Body Radiation' which was the birth of quantum theory.

According to classical theories of classical physics, energy is solely a continuous wave like phenomenon independent of characteristics of physical matter. Planck's theory held that radiant energy  is made up of particle like components known as 'Quanta'. The theory helped to resolve previously unexplained natural phenomenon such as the behavior of heat in solids the nature of light absorption on an atomic level. Max Planck received Nobel Prize in physics in 1918 for his work on Black-Body Radiation.

Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who proposed a theory for hydrogen atom, based on the quantum theory that some physical quantities only take discrete values.

Electrons move around a nucleus-only in prescribed orbits, and if electrons jumps to a lower energy orbit-the difference is sent out as radiation. Bohr's model explained why atoms only emit light of fixed wavelengths, and later incorporated the theory on 'light quanta'.

Niels Bohr received Nobel Prize in physics in 1922 for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them.

General Relativity vs Quantum Mechanics:

The two giants in the fields of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics were Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr. Before getting into the Clash of these two titans-we need to understand the basic idea that why General Relativity is incompatible with Quantum Mechanics. 

The world of Quantum Mechanics operates on 'uncertainty', 'probability' and 'complementarity'. If we could look through a microscope at this tiny universe, we would see random undulations resembling something looking like a storm in North Atlantic Ocean. Now, we if we look this into outer space, into the smooth gravitational field of a planet, we would no longer have the smooth warp of the space-time described by the spatial geometry of general relativity. At this microscopic level, the gravitational field would be warped by the energy of the quantum foam. So this fundamental incompatibility of quantum mechanics and general relativity occurs at the most fundamental level where the building blocks of matter have their existence.

The first attempt of unifying 'Relativity' and 'Quantum Mechanics' took place when 'Special Relativity' was merged with 'Electromagnetism'. This created the theory of 'Quantum Electrodynamics' or QED. QED is considered by most physicists to be the most precise theory of natural phenomenon ever developed. In the 1960s and during the 1970s, the success of QED prompted physicists to try an analogous approach to unifying the 'weak', the 'strong' and the 'gravitational' forces. During these discoveries, another set of theories emerged called 'Quantum Chromodynamics' or QCD. QCD describes merging of 'weak' and the 'strong' forces-also known as 'Quantum Electroweak Theory'.

Solvay Conference 1927:

One of the most famous conference was the Fifth Solvay Conference of 1927 held from 24th October 1927 to 29th October 1927 in the 'International Institute of Physics', Brussels, Belgium- on the subject of 'Electrons and Photons'. World's most eminent physicists met to discuss the newly formulated quantum theory. Among all the notable personalities, the leading figures were 'Albert Einstein' and 'Niels Bohr'.

Heated argument broke out between Bohr and Einstein regarding Quantum Theory. Einstein's most famous line "God does not play dice" was indicated towards the quantum theory. Niels Bohr on the other hand said, "Einstein, Stop telling God what to do!". During the conference Einstein leads a series of thought experiments through which he tried to prove that Heisenberg's  Uncertainty Principle was just plain wrong.

Jonathan Dowling, Co-director of Horace Hearne Institute for Theoretical Physics wrote in his book 'Schrodinger's Killer App: Race to build the World's First Quantum Computer' - "Each sleepless night Bohr would worry and fume and ruminate about Einstein's attack, and then he would respond the next day with a keen rebuttal, showing where Einstein has missed something, and salvage Heisenberg's principle. This debate went on for days at Solvay Conference and continued on 3 years later at the next conference."

The fight between the General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics are still on. Physicists and Scientists are in search of one Unified Theory that can merge both the above theories that has been a part of any deep scientific debates that took place in the world. I am eagerly waiting for the day when we get the news that scientists have developed the unified theory that explains all the phenomenon in the universe.

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