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At the base of modern physics is something called quantum theory. It explains the behavior of energy and matter on different atomic levels - atomic and subatomic. Quantum theory encompasses the working of the realms of physics commonly referred to as quantum physics and quantum mechanics and it offers up a rather interesting look into the foundations of modern physics.

Quantum theory was first presented to the general public in the year 1900, by a physicist named Max Planck. He presented the theory to the German Physical Society, specifically by presenting the results of an experiment he had done looking into the color of radiation from glowing bodies (not human bodies, physical bodies).

In the experiment, he found that if he assumed that energy existed in individual units similar to matter, that he would find the answer to the original question posed in his experiment. Thinking of energy in this way was new and allowed the energy to be easily quantified. These units of energy that he was able to quantify were named quanta by Planck in his writings about the experiment and subsequent mathematical equations.

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The equation that formed the beginnings of quantum theory demonstrated that at certain temperature levels, the energy that was let off from a glowing body would exist in different areas of the spectrum of color, or wavelength. Planck initially imagined that his discovery of quanta would set in motion the creation of a new theory, but what actually ended up happening was that it completely rewrote humanity's understanding of the laws of nature.

In 1918, Planck won the Nobel Prize for his discovery and research on quanta. It is important to note though, that while Planck's research began the foundation of modern quantum theory, tens to hundreds of other scientists worked in the years prior to set Planck up to make this discovery just at the point that he did. Taking a closer look at the timeline, we can see how the theory progressed after the discovery.

1900: Planck makes the initial discovery, or rather assumption, that energy was made of units called quanta.

1905: Albert Einstein theorizes that energy and radiation could be quantified in the same way that Planck had theorized of quanta.

1924:Louis de Brogliefirst proposed that there was no difference between energy and particles in his theory of wave-particle duality, also demonstrated in the famous double-slit experiment.

1927: A scientist by the name of Werner Heisenberg theorized that the measurement of two complementary values at the same time, such as the position and momentum of a given subatomic particle, would be impossible. This stands starkly in contrast to traditional physics and became known as the uncertainty principle.

Now that we've taken a closer look at the timeline of quantum theory development, let's take a closer look at who exactly Max Planck was.

Born in April of 1858, Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (quite the name) was a theoretical physicist who was the originator of quantum theory, which, as we've discussed, afforded him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. During his lifetime he made major contributions to the field of theoretical physics but the quantum theory remains his largest accomplishment.

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Quantum theory at the hands of Planck completely revolutionized our understanding and conceptualization of quantum particles and processes. It could be equated in gravity of the theory of Alber Einstein's theory of relativity that changed our understanding of space and time.

Both quantum theory and the theory of relativity exemplify the foundations of all of the 1900s physics, forcing researchers to rethink how they approach the world around them.

Planck passed away at the age of 89 years-old in 1947 in Germany.

The main methods of interpreting quantum theory are known as the Copenhagen interpretation and the many-worlds theory. The Copenhagen theory proposes that a particle is whatever it is measured to be. In other words, if you measure a particle as a wave, it's a wave. However, it also states that you can't assume that it has any specific properties or that it exists until you measure it. It's an off-the-cuff way of insisting that physical reality doesn't actually exist until you observe it. This leads way to the idea of superposition, which means that any given particle or object can be in any number of potential places at once during the period that we don't know its position, or aren't observing it.

The famous thought experiment of Schrodinger's Cat is the perfect exemplification of this interpretation of the quantum theory.

The many-worlds theory or multiverse theory. This states that as soon as the potential for an object to exist occurs, the universe splits into a series of parallel universes where both states of that object exist. This theory is the basis of TV shows like Rick and Morty or other popular science fiction stories, but at the end of the day, it's a very real interpretation of the quantum theory.

Both Stephen Hawking and Richard Feynman expressed that they preferred the multiverse theory style of interpretation.

At the end of the day, quantum theory and Planck's research have drastically influenced the work of physicists and researchers over the last 100 years. The implications of quantum theory can be a little mind-boggling though, even causing Planck himself to balk at them during his time. The foundational principles of the theory, however, continue to be repeated and proven through subsequent experimentation. Physics in many ways still will be fleshed out in the next century, but its foundation of quantum theory laid by Max Planck is likely here to stay.

Read more:

Max Planck Created Quantum Theory and Laid a New Foundation for Physics - Interesting Engineering

To answer Karin Koller (Letters, 23 June), the French for bra, soutien-gorge, is masculine because compound words, consisting of a noun preceded by a verbal prefix, are nearly always masculine. The exceptions are when denoting women: for example, garde-malade, a home nurse. Nowadays, dcollet would be a more correct translation of cleavage.Gisle EarleOxford

Quantum physicists understand bras better than most thanks to Paul Dirac, whose analysis showed that the bra and the ket work together to form a special product, which was named bra-ket (derived from bracket). So the bra is a product of quantum mechanics.Prof Brian JosephsonDepartment of physics, Cambridge University

The English bra comes from brassire, which is feminine, but now means a babys sleeved vest. Its older meaning was chemise de femme trs ajuste a tight-fitting garment that could have lifted the breasts. In the 1950s, I remember bra and brassire being used, and my embarrassment at seeing brasserie emblazoned on the outside of a restaurant.Jenny MoirChelmsford, Essex

Karin Koller should not be too worried that the French for cleavage, dcollet, is masculine. Of greater importance is vagin. The Latin word it comes from, vagina, is feminine.Michael BulleyChalon-sur-Sane, France

It surely remains only to say BRAva! to Karin Koller. The crossword setter who caused this fascinating thread now knows what theyre up against.Jenny SwannBeeston, Nottingham

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Lost and found in French translation - The Guardian

Photo credit: KTSDESIGN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY - Getty Images

From Popular Mechanics

In a new, unreviewed paper, researchers suggest the conditions that could have created stable wormholes.

By applying quantum ideas to standard gravity, the researchers were able to satisfy the requirements to make a traversable wormhole.

Their solution is for a pseudosphere instead of a sphere, making the math more amenable.

Could the first stable wormholes be more like ... real worms? The wormhole design that could eventually succeed is tiny and strangely shaped, Iranian researchers say. No word on whether these wormholes will appear only after a rainfall.

The hypothetical wormhole, of any shape or stability, is the result of two black holes that end up touching. But that means anything that crosses the threshold of either end is immediately sucked into the infinitely dense heart of one black hole or the other, never to return.

The series of conditions that would avoid an infinite, well, suckage past dual event horizons involves an escalating series of impossibilities based on the idea that general relativity basically doesnt apply at all. The wormhole must be held open by a material with negative mass, for example. Right now, we dont know of anything that fits the criteria.

Now, those impossibilities also have a shape. In a new paper not yet reviewed for print, researchers studied ways to use quantum physics phenomena to describe how a wormhole might function. The secret is that an impossible black hole under general relativity is improved into a supportable quantum black hole.

The researchers improve the coupling constant, which refers to a quantum phenomenon of the way particles interact, by fine tuning it with a new mathematical formula. The result is called antiscreening running coupling.

The researchers studied this solution for both spherical and pseudospherical wormholes. Though these two terms sound related, think of them more like a science and a pseudoscience: almost complete opposites. A pseudosphere looks like two trumpet bells pressed together, or a childs spinning top. The curvature is concave instead of convex like a sphere, and the math is much more complex.

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Plugging in a pseudosphere instead of a sphere, with the previously zhuzhed numbers to reflect the new running constant, turns out a black hole that saves the causal structure, satisfies null energy condition, and the matter is nonexotic, the scientists explain. Exotic matter includes hypothetical stuff that does have negative mass, for example. Finding a solution that doesnt rely on positing the existence of an exotic matter makes the wormhole a little more feasible.

The caveat here is the researchers believe theyre describing a situation that could have happened at the nano scale and near the very absolute beginning of time. It has to be noted that such a traversable wormhole is not at the astrophysical scales. It is a quantum wormhole, applicable in the very early universe, they explain. That means very tiny and when the universe itself was tiny as well.

In this delicate but stable hypothetical wormhole, a passenger can travel through the wormhole, but how possible that isand what it looks likevaries as the passenger particle approaches the throat of the wormhole.

The same way particles travel through tunnels created in quantum computers and other current schemata, they could have snuck through very tiny pseudospherical wormholes in the primordial space ooze, using quantum gravity as their guide.

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If Wormholes Are Actually Going to Work, They'll Need to Look Weird - Yahoo! Voices