Dr. Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D., aka Dr. Quantum, is a quantum physicist and earned his Ph.D. in theoretical physics at UCLA in 1963. He is a world renowned author, speaker and researcher. Some of his many books include:
- Taking the Quantum Leap
- Parallel Universes
- The Dreaming Universe
- The Eagle’s Quest
- The Spiritual Universe
- Mind into Matter
- Matter into Feeling
- The Yoga of Time Travel: How the Mind Can Defeat Time
- Dr. Quantum Presents, A Little Book of Big Ideas
Dr. Wolf’s greatest gift seems to be his ability to explain very complex, theoretical ideas in terms most anyone can understand. Dr. Quantum is a comic book character created by Dr. Wolf to explain quantum physics to children.
He asks the big questions:
- Where did we come from?
- Why are we here?
- What is reality?
- What is consciousness?
- Does the observer change a system just by the act of observing it?
- Does the observer change reality?
His current research concerns the relationship between quantum physics and consciousness.
Quantum physics is fundamental to all science, and even to reality itself. I hope you will enjoy watching the video below for a down-to-earth explanation of the really far-out subject of quantum physics. It’s about 7 minutes in length.
Do you have questions? Write them down and visit Dr. Wolf’s website and ask them: Ask Dr. Quantum. Click on the “Ask Dr. Quantum” link and type in your question. He may answer it by email. He may also post your question and the answer on his website.
Stay tuned for more Dr. Quantum videos and more on physics, and quantum physics.
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:58 am
[...] News » News Dr. Quantum Explains: Quantum Physics Theory2008-08-22 01:58:19A He is a world renowned author, speaker and researcher. Some of his many books [...]
August 25th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
[...] Dr. Quantum Explains: Quantum Physics Theory [...]
December 28th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
hi dr
i have a question, its driving me mad, here goes, does the double slit experiment in fact mean that anything is possible?
January 29th, 2010 at 2:40 am
Hi Chris,
The double slit experiment doesn’t mean everything and anything is possible. The quantum universe has rules. We just don’t have a good grasp of all of them yet. For example, we don’t have a quantum theory for gravity. Einstein’s general theory of relativity is still the ruling theory of gravity, which is very well approximated by Newton’s classical mechanics laws of gravity.
The double slit experiment shows that particles have both wave and quantum behavior at the same time. The particle going through both slits at the same time demonstrates the concept of quantum superposition caused by this dual, simultaneous nature. Things on the quantum level have probabilities over a bunch of possible locations. They are actually in all those places at the same time until you directly observe them. Then they collapse on a single position. Exactly why this happens is not all that clear, especially to those of us who don’t have a Ph.D. in quantum physics.
I recommend the book “A Briefer History of Time” by Steven Hawking, from 2005, I think. It’s been updated, boiled down some more and more technical stuff has been removed from the original book from 1988. We’ve learned a lot about quantum physics since 1988. It introduces string theory, but doesn’t go into grand unified field theory of the superstring. It should be available at your local public library.
I also highly recommend watching Dr. Michio Kaku on The Science Channel. He explains quantum mechanics in everyday language with fantastic examples.
Thanks for the question,
Sherri
March 31st, 2010 at 4:22 am
physics homework help
June 6th, 2010 at 2:21 am
A good friend of mine said that Dr. Kaku has said (on a Science Channel program) that infinity does not exist.
Also said by my friend was that all physics, both classic and quantum, are soon to become obsolete.
That “infinity” does not exist, I can more or less understand.
But the rest?
Have I wasted my entire life learning about things that do not exist?
Have you an explanation or any information at all on this?
Thank you.
June 6th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Victoria,
Dr. Kaku didn’t say infinity doesn’t exist. He said that solving Einstein’s equations of general relativity for black holes results in an answer of multiple infinities, and that makes no sense. Quantum physics breaks down when trying to use it on gravity. There is no quantum theory of gravity. Classical mechanics breaks down at the atomic and subatomic level.
What he meant when he said classical and quantum physics will become obsolete is that physicists are close to developing a theory that incorporates quantum mechanics, classical mechanics and gravity. Right now we have two theories which explain what they explain extremely well, but they have limits at which one theory can’t explain what the other one can. That means we humans haven’t figured it all out yet. Nature and the universe are smarter than we are.
There has to be a theory which incorporates all three, and the bridge between classical and quantum physics will be found. When it is, some things about both theories will have to be updated. They may have to change completely in the sense that there will be one theory that explains everything, making the other two obsolete. Einstein’s theories actually proved Newton’s laws were correct, but not exactly as precise as reality. I predict the same sort of things will happen with whatever bridges classical with quantum theories, forming one complete theory.
Sherri