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"The New Quantum Age "

Abstract

Quantum theory was essentially completed eighty years ago. Within twenty years of its birth, quantum theory had provided rigorous foundations for atomic physics and chemistry, for condensed matter physics and materials science, and for nuclear and particle physics. Within forty years quantum mechanics had elevated cosmology from metaphysics to hard science and spawned integrated electronics, lasers and fiber optics. The global economy is one consequence of these advances; the transformation in our personal lives is another. Today, we are in what could be called a new quantum age, characterized by the ability to control and manipulate individual particles and to actually execute hypothetical "thought experiments." We can no more anticipate the consequences of these developments than the founders of quantum mechanics could have anticipated the consequences of their creation.