Particle Physics Quotes

“‎In modern physics, there is no such thing as "nothing." Even in a perfect vacuum, pairs of virtual particles are constantly being created and destroyed. The existence of these particles is no mathematical fiction. Though they cannot be directly observed, the effects they create are quite real. The assumption that they exist leads to predictions that have been confirmed by experiment to a high degree of accuracy.”
― Richard Morris

“Despite my resistance to hyperbole, the LHC belongs to a world that can only be described with superlatives. It is not merely large: the LHC is the biggest machine ever built. It is not merely cold: the 1.9 kelvin (1.9 degrees Celsius above absolute zero) temperature necessary for the LHC’s supercomputing magnets to operate is the coldest extended region that we know of in the universe—even colder than outer space. The magnetic field is not merely big: the superconducting dipole magnets generating a magnetic field more than 100,000 times stronger than the Earth’s are the strongest magnets in industrial production ever made.

And the extremes don’t end there. The vacuum inside the proton-containing tubes, a 10 trillionth of an atmosphere, is the most complete vacuum over the largest region ever produced. The energy of the collisions are the highest ever generated on Earth, allowing us to study the interactions that occurred in the early universe the furthest back in time.”
― Lisa Randall, Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World

“String theory is an attempt at a deeper description of nature by thinking of an elementary particle not as a little point but as a little loop of vibrating string.”
― Edward Witten

“[On the practical applications of particle physics research with the Large Hadron Collider.]

Sometimes the public says, 'What's in it for Numero Uno? Am I going to get better television reception? Am I going to get better Internet reception?' Well, in some sense, yeah. ... All the wonders of quantum physics were learned basically from looking at atom-smasher technology. ... But let me let you in on a secret: We physicists are not driven to do this because of better color television. ... That's a spin-off. We do this because we want to understand our role and our place in the universe.”
― Michio Kaku

“The history of atomism is one of reductionism – the effort to reduce all the operations of nature to a small number of laws governing a small number of primordial objects.”
― Leon M. Lederman

“Another very good test some readers may want to look up, which we do not have space to describe here, is the Casimir effect, where forces between metal plates in empty space are modified by the presence of virtual particles.

Thus virtual particles are indeed real and have observable effects that physicists have devised ways of measuring. Their properties and consequences are well established and well understood consequences of quantum mechanics.”
― Gordon L. Kane

“Is the purpose of theoretical physics to be no more than a cataloging of all the things that can happen when particles interact with each other and separate? Or is it to be an understanding at a deeper level in which there are things that are not directly observable (as the underlying quantized fields are) but in terms of which we shall have a more fundamental understanding?”
― Julian Schwinger, Quantum Mechanics: Symbolism of Atomic Measurements

“Tapestries are made by many artisans working together. The contributions of separate workers cannot be discerned in the completed work, and the loose and false threads have been covered over. So it is in our picture of particle physics.”
― Sheldon L. Glashow

“I am mindful that scientific achievement is rooted in the past, is cultivated to full stature by many contemporaries and flourishes only in favorable environment. No individual is alone responsible for a single stepping stone along the path of progress, and where the path is smooth progress is most rapid. In my own work this has been particularly true.”
― Ernest O. Lawrence

“After that cancellation [of the Superconducting Super Collider in Texas, after $2 billion had been spent on it], we physicists learned that we have to sing for our supper. ... The Cold War is over. You can't simply say “Russia!” to Congress, and they whip out their checkbook and say, “How much?” We have to tell the people why this atom-smasher is going to benefit their lives.”
― Michio Kaku

“Lots of data gets collected through the latest technology today, and not all of it is about people's consumer preferences.”
― Lisa Randall, Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe

“Truth is simple yet purposely complex.”
― Wald Wassermann

“Everybody is one; yet you can still be yourself.”
― Wald Wassermann

“Σημειώσεις
Εχοντας θέσει ως αίτημα ότι ο χώρος ήταν γεμάτος απο μι��, απείρης πυκόντητας, θάλασσα αρν. σωματιδίων, ο Dirac προχώρησε, ρωτώντας αν εμείς μπορούσαμε να αλληλεπιδράσουμε με αυτήν την αρνητκη ενεργειακή θάλασσα. Τι θα συνέβαινε, ας πούμε, αν φορτίζαμε ένα ηλεκτρόνιο με πρόσθετη ενέργεια, ώσπου να βγεί από τη θάλασσα της αρν. ενέργειας? Δυο πράγματα θα συνέβαιναν: Πρώτον,θα δημιουργούσαμε έναηλεκτρόνιο φαινομενικά απ'το τίποτα. Δεύτερον, θα αφήναμε πίσω μας,μια 'τρύπα' στη θάλασσα. Η τρύπα θα ενεργούσε σα να ήταν σωματίδιο η ίδια, ένα σωματίδιο εντελλώς όμοιο με ηλεκτρόνιο, εκτός απο ένα πράμα> θα είχε αντίθετο φορτιο.Αλλά αν μια τρύπα συναντούσε, ένα e- το ηλεκτρόνιο θα έπεφτε πίσω στη θάλλασα του Ντίρακ, εκμηδενίζοντας τρύπα και e- σε μια φωτοβόλα έκρηξη ενέργειας... Η αντιύλη, οι οπές στη θάλασσα, ήταν το σημαντικότερο χαρακτηριστικό στη θεωρία του. Τα υπόλοιπα ήταν μονάχα ένα μαθηματικό κατασκεύασμα.

Εβδομήντα χρόνια αργότερα θυμήθηκα την ιστορία που έλεγε ο καθηγητής μου στα υπερπερασμένα μαθηματικά, και την παρέβαλα με τη θεωρία του Dirac. Όπως όταν βάζεις ένα πρόσθετο πελάτη στο ξενοδοχείο με τα άπειρα κατειλημμένα δωμάτια, έτσι υπολόγισα τελικά, πως θα μπορούσα να αντλήσω ενέργεια από τη θάλασσα του Dirac. Ή για να το πω αλλοιώς έμαθα να κάνω κύματα.

Και τα κύματα της θάλασσας του Ντίρακ, ταξίδευαν αντίθετα στο χρόνο”
― Geoffrey A. Landis

“My particles made me do it by moving according to the laws of physics”
― Max Tegmark, Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

“We have jerks, assholes, and those who are just dumb...dumb!"

"You mean relative to you others," my mother once protested.

"No, Mom, dumb like anyone is dumb."

"So how did he get a Ph.D.?"

"Sitzfleisch, Mom."

Sitzfleisch: the ability to sit through any task, to do it again and again until the job is somehow done. Those who give out Ph.D.'s are human too - sooner or later they give in.”
― Leon M. Lederman, The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?

“Loneliness is dreadfulness; companionship is blissfulness.”
― Wald Wassermann

“Beyond Quarks, Leptons and Muons there is Ione.”
― Wald Wassermann

“Truth is simple yet purposely complex as in differentiated. Why? So to be able to experience companionship, so to be able to experience friendship, so to be able to love and be loved in return.”
― Wald Wassermann

“There is only oneself partnering with itself so not to be by itself. The purpose of self is companionship. Love so love.”
― Wald Wassermann

“There is only oneself partnering with itself so not to be by itself.”
― Wald Wassermann

“The tree of life may have a thousand leaves but all these leaves are the same tree.”
― Wald Wassermann

“One's very own cause - aloneness - matters not as much as
One's very own reason - companionship, friendship, love.”
― Wald Wassermann

“It is not the physicist but the Self-realized [spiritual] master who comprehends the true nature of matter.”
― Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda illustrated edition

“Les partícules s'agraden d'estar juntes. Podria ser que el moviment quàntic fos només això: buscar-se, colpir-se, consumar-se.”
― Helena Guilera Recoder, L'escuma