by CLARA MOSKOWITZ
From the idea that our universe is one among many, to the revelation that mathematician Pythagoras didn’t actually invent the Pythagorean theorem, here are eight shocking things we learned from reading physicist Stephen Hawking’s new book, “The Grand Design,” written with fellow physicist Leonard Mlodinow of Caltech.
The book, covering major questions about the nature and origin of the universe, was released Sept. 7 by its publisher, Bantam.
1. The past is possibility
According to Hawking and Mlodinow, one consequence of the theory of quantum mechanics is that events in the past that were not directly observed did not happen in a definite way. Instead they happened in all possible ways. This is related to the probabilistic nature of matter and energy revealed by quantum mechanics: Unless forced to choose a particular state by direct interference from an outside observation, things will hover in a state of uncertainty.
For example, if all we know is that a particle traveled from point A to point B, then it is not true that the particle took a definite path and we just don’t know what it is. Rather, that particle simultaneously took every possible path connecting the two points.
Yeah, we’re still trying to wrap our brains around this.
The authors sum up: “No matter how thorough our observation of the present, the (unobserved) past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities.”
2. The power of light
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(Thanks to reader)