Quantum Quirks: Understanding the Intangible

On a hot day, you know how long your pint stays cold, because you intuitively understand heat. But in the quantum world, heat isn't so straightforward. It might take 5 minutes for a quantum beer to warm up, or it could take 5 seconds - it's probabilistic. My research explores how heat behaves at the quantum scale. Understanding this helps us control quantum systems and develop technologies like quantum computers. Join me for a short introduction to these ideas - hopefully your quantum beer stays cold!

There exists an idea that science survives as a distant and dull monolith, accumulating observations with the occasional spike in activity surrounding a major discovery. This could not be further from the truth. Behind the veil of rigmarole and tedium, lie serious stakes, serious egos, and serious beef. This talk will account for some of the major moments of drama that shaped quantum mechanics, beginning over 2000 years ago and ending in a clash still unfolding today, showing how war, big personalities, and too much LSD shaped quantum physics as we know it.

Spin is an intrinsic property of particles, such as protons and electrons, or of collections of particles, that has a big effect on many aspects of life, hidden in plain sight. Investigating it can lead to discovering amazing things such as the mechanisms behind photosynthesis or how much a beer can last on a shelf. But how do we study it? From magnets to quantum computers, this talk will focus on how spin affects our life, how we can investigate and manipulate it, and how it affects the technology of the future.