Schrödinger's Tree

In 1935, quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger suggested a controversial thought experiment to highlight the paradoxical nature of time in quantum mechanics.1 In the experiment, he supposed that particles (e.g., things) exist simultaneously in two states (e.g., both alive and dead) until some point in time where an observer (e.g., a human) observed what was going on, which resolved the issue. This alone didn’t make the experiment controversial; the concept of “superposition” remains a mainstream theory of quantum physics to this day. What made it controversial was his suggestion that a cat, in a box with a radioactive atom, Geiger counter, vial of poison, and a hammer, is both alive and dead simultaneously until the box is opened and the cat is observed. Lovers of felines were........

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