If you aren't confused by quantum mechanics, you haven't really understood it.
Interpretation
Understanding quantum mechanics involves confronting confusion and complexity.
Niels Bohr's quote suggests that the intricacies and paradoxes of quantum mechanics are inherently baffling, and true comprehension requires grappling with these uncertainties. It emphasizes that confusion is not a sign of ignorance, but rather a fundamental part of mastering such a complex subject.
In practice
In a lecture about quantum physics, you could use this quote to highlight the complexity of the subject.
When asked ... [about] an underlying quantum world, Bohr would answer, 'There is no quantum world. There is only an abstract quantum physical description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about Nature.'
An independant reality in the ordinary physical sense can neither be ascribed to the phenomenon nor to the agencies of observation.
An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.
Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.
When searching for harmony in life one must never forget that in the drama of existence we are ourselves both actors and spectators.
And anyone who thinks they can talk about quantum theory without feeling dizzy hasn't yet understood the first thing about it.
The greatest of all the accomplishments of 20th century science has been the discovery of human ignorance
Black holes, we all know, are these regions where if an object falls in, it can't get out, but the puzzle that many struggled with over the decades is, what happens to the information that an object contains when it falls into a black hole. Is it simply lost?
Only six men in the world know about relativity. I am not one of them. When I ask them to explain, they confused me.
A sound-bite culture can't discuss science very well. Exactly what we're losing when we reduce biodiversity, the causes and consequences of global warming-these traumas can't be adequately summarized in an evening news wrap-up.
When you look at the light bulb above you, you remember Thomas Alva Edison. When the telephone bell rings, you remember Alexander Graham Bell. Marie Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize. When you see the blue sky, you think of Sir C.V. Raman.
'Frankenstein' did not invent the fear of science; the novel found its audience because it dramatized anxieties that already existed. Although popular entertainment can, over the long run, shape public perceptions, it becomes popular in the first place only if it addresses preexisting hopes, fears, and fascinations.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.