NOVA: Einstein's Quantum Riddle

By Jennifer Robinson / Web Producer

Published January 7, 2019 at 12:25 PM PST

NOVA follows a ground-breaking experiment in the Canary Islands to use quasars at opposite ends of the universe to once and for all settle remaining questions. Join scientists as they grab light from across the universe to prove quantum entanglement is real.

Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV / Stream now with the PBS app + Encores Sunday, Sept. 29 at 2 p.m. on KPBS TV and 9 p.m. on KPBS 2

Einstein called it “spooky action at a distance,” but today quantum entanglement is poised to revolutionize technology from computers to cryptography. Physicists have gradually become convinced that the phenomenon — two subatomic particles that mirror changes in each other instantaneously over any distance — is real. But a few doubts remain.

Quantum entanglement is poised to revolutionize technology from networks to code breaking–but first we need to know it’s real. Join physicists as they capture light from across the universe in a bid to prove Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance.”

On "Einstein's Quantum Riddle," NOVA follows a ground-breaking experiment in the Canary Islands to use quasars at opposite ends of the universe to once and for all settle remaining questions.

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The theory of quantum mechanics presented at the meeting said that a particle like an electron isn’t physically real until it’s observed, measured by an instrument that can detect it. Before it’s detected, instead of being a solid particle, an electron is just a fuzzy wave, a wave of probability.

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In seeing quantum entanglement as central to physics, The Fundamental Fysiks Group were decades ahead of their time.

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NOVA: Einstein's Quantum Riddle

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