“Wheeler wasn’t the first to point out that quantum mechanics slips into paradox the minute you introduce a second observer. The Nobel Prize–winning physicist Eugene Wigner, for one, had emphasized it with a Schrödinger’s-cat-style thought experiment that became known as… — Amanda Gefter Copy Share Image
“Despite his mellow, Zen-like demeanor, the appearance of that bookcase betrayed an urgency. A hunger. This thing meant something to him. Of course I… — Amanda Gefter Copy Share Image
“Einstein had been only four or five years old when his father gave him that compass. It was one of those small tokens that… — Amanda Gefter Copy Share Image
“Wheeler wasn’t the first to point out that quantum mechanics slips into paradox the minute you introduce a second observer. The Nobel Prize–winning physicist… — Amanda Gefter Copy Share Image
“Science journalism’s express goal was to hang over the writer’s mind a veil so opaque that the reader would mistake the writer’s thoughts about… — Amanda Gefter Copy Share Image
“Watching the way an invisible force always guided the compass needle north had convinced Einstein that “something deeply hidden had to be behind things.”… — Amanda Gefter Copy Share Image
“On an average trip he brought two physics books, a few philosophy books, several volumes of poetry, and one thesaurus” — Amanda Gefter Copy Share Image
“This was London, after all. I had read somewhere that wherever you stand in the entire city, you’re never more than twenty yards from… — Amanda Gefter Copy Share Image
“Scientific progress isn’t a parade of miraculously wrong theories—it’s an optimistic snowball, gathering the structure of reality as it rolls.” — Amanda Gefter Copy Share Image
