What is light?
Is it a wave?
Is it a particle?
Or is it both?
Regardless of the truth, the wave-particle duality of light had already been written into high school physics textbooks.
90% of students rely rember there is such a concept.
A small number delve deeper, roughly grasping the double-slit interference experint.
After this brief span of studying, the concept of light returned to examination papers, becoming a diverted line in a question where striking a mirror would reflect a symtrical line, and by calculating the angles between them, one could retrieve the deserved marks.
But Jie Qifen stopped there.
A wave is a wave, a particle is a particle.
Duality?
What kind of explanation is this? What kind of concept is this?
The young man struggled to imagine why such an absurd description rightfully made its way into textbooks.
It’s as absurd as stating, "soone exhibits both male and female qualities: they are female when dressed, and male when undressed."
Although Jie Qifen harbored such deep doubts, he never thought to ask his teachers.
After all, since he had mastered calculus, his science teachers were unable to directly answer any of his questions. Previously, they could still casually say, "This needs to be explained with calculus, we’ll talk when you’ve learned that, ah."
Thus, Jie Qifen remained stuck there.
He probably didn’t expect that this pause would last 27 years.
Initially, in an era when there was no internet, his only option was the university library. Whether after school or during weekends, he would take a long bus ride to the most prestigious university in his city, and then linger at the entrance, pleading with passing students to sneak him in.
The university students were naturally very fond of such a studious kid. Not only would they bring him inside, but they would also listen to his questions, either trying to answer them or personally guiding him to the shelves with relevant textbooks and literature.
During these countless days and nights, a grand historical narrative of physics unfolded before Jie Qifen.
He realized that the wave-particle duality of light wasn’t sothing that soone just thought up, but rather the result of a century-long debate.
The Particle Faction believed that light was quantifiable tiny particles with mass, a fact definitively proven by Newton, Einstein, and Planck.
The Wave Faction believed that light was a type of electromagnetic wave, capable of producing interference and diffraction, a fact also definitively proven by Huygens, Maxwell, and Hertz.
It was like one group proving soone is male, while another group proved they are female.
The result was so absurd, but for a long ti, these completely contradictory conclusions were both correct.
Until the double-slit interference experint, with breakthroughs in observational technology, scientists decided to track each individual photon to put a definitive end to the debate.
The experint’s principle was simple: take a board and cut two vertical slits in it, then aim a photon emitter at the double slit, continuously firing photons, and finally observe the kind of light spots left on the screen behind the board.
In the Particle Faction’s theory, each photon was undeniably a particle; it would either pass through the left slit or the right slit, each with a 50% probability, and thus would result in two clear vertical bars.
In the Wave Faction’s theory, light would split in two after passing through the double slit, undoubtedly creating interference, so the screen should definitely reflect a series of beautiful zebra stripe patterns.
However, the final outco left everyone in silence—
Observe it, it’s a particle.
Don’t observe it, it’s a wave.
More specifically,
If you place a photon cara there, two bars will appear on the screen behind the double slit.
If you don’t place it, no matter how hard you stare with the naked eye, the result is beautiful zebra stripe patterns.
It’s like with a person, when you look directly, she is a woman, but as soon as you pick up the cara, he turns into a man.
No matter how hard it is to understand, this is the fact proven ti and again by experints.
No one expected that this experint, which was supposed to settle the matter, would uncover a series of even more terrifying mysteries.
On this basis, Niels Bohr erged, marking the beginning of quantum chanics, and proposed the still unbreakable three great principles of the quantum world—
Superposition principle: In the quantum world, all possibilities coexist, a person really can be both male and female.
Uncertainty principle: Because the superposition state is unasurable, we will never know what cos next; who knows if they will be male or female the next mont.
Observer effect: Although this person is both male and female, Schrödinger’s cat is both dead and alive, we can never observe such a thing. Once observed, the person’s gender will be determined, either male or female, and which it is will be decided by the probability distribution of their state at the ti, essentially a probability-satisfying randomness, just like drawing cards in mobile gas.
Einstein mocked this by saying, "God plays dice?"
Bohr’s response was even more mocking: "Don’t tell God what to do!"
The glittering quantum dispute began to unfold.
If one must single out a few exemplars in this magnificent chapter of scientific history, it would be Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, who argued from the mont they t until death, and Erwin Schrödinger, who in his monts of wisdom between flirtations, would occasionally erge to stir up trouble and tornt a cat.
Of course, in the readings of young Jie Qifen, he saw a series of great nas and beautiful numbers—
Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Enrico Fermi, Paul Dirac, Albert Einstein...
Planck’s constant, de Broglie waves, the Schrödinger equation, Heisenberg’s uncertainty...
Though he couldn’t yet grasp all their anings, this did not hinder his obsessed infatuation.
If he had to say, he had never been in love, never fallen for anyone.
Quantum chanics was his only, mysterious, everlasting first love.
He followed her traces, through high school, through competitions, securing the world champion’s trophy, and entering the nation’s most prestigious School of Physics.
But she never once glanced back at him.
Bell’s Inequality was her last sound; ghost imaging experints, her last stunning display.
After that, there was just a ss.
From philosophical charlatans to engineering swindlers, everyone wanted a piece of her.
From wealthy tycoons to diocre professors, everyone wanted to carve a piece from her.
They dressed her up, mythologized her.
They corrupted her, demonized her.
She gradually beca garish and decayed, srizing yet foul.
The young man began to detest her.
He only wished to rember her as she initially was.
Perhaps the one who should have cried out "shatter reality" should have been him.
Thus, he rejected all the quantum myths since the ’90s.
By this ti, the young man had beco a youth.
The youth returned alone to the origin where he first t her.
And he beca young again.
Back to the place known as "the wave-particle duality of light."
He set aside reality and returned to the beautifully abstract world of mathematics.
He sought the bridge between them, the bridge between waves and particles, believing it to be the final key to her heart.
If "observation" truly could change outcos.
Then he would try, just like those great nas.
To write it out in equations.
Waves have equations, particles have equations, then surely "observation" must also have an equation.
Pieced together.
She would return.
From then on, the youth embarked on this dood path of devastating obsession.
In the conference room, Zhong Ping calmly recounted this past.
"During his graduate days, Jie Qifen was highly esteed, more so than both you and Jian Feng combined, and unmatched by anyone else in the dostic academic circle," he said.
"I’m not saying you are lesser than him, but under the material conditions of the ti, having a locally educated scholar like Jie Qifen, who gained international recognition by featuring in top international journals, was nothing short of a miracle."
"Therefore, whatever he wanted to do, no one dared to question, and both the academy and the university supported him fully."
"Plus, with the craze of Qigong and such, even the leaders really thought he could devise so groundbreaking creation theory, that he was our Einstein."
"You know, in the pure theoretical research of physics and mathematics, computing power, that is, computational resources, is the most essential."
"Let’s put it this way, half of Ji University’s computing power was at his disposal then."
"This phase lasted about three years, until he graduated from his PhD program."
"Basically zero results."
"Even negative results."
"Not to ntion top-tier journals, he published only one paper in a third-rate journal, and it was severely criticized."
"He was trying to reconstruct physics using the most basic mathematical thods, which itself shouldn’t have been criticized, but he spent a long ti without producing decent results. Instead, he kept throwing out a bunch of mathematical content within his own system to attack cutting-edge quantum chanics, and that earned him quite a bad reputation,"
"It was like he was using his own made-up theories to dismiss others, kind of like what amateur scientists do."
"But the key issue is that he was using the na and resources of Ji University."
"During that period, the number of overseas returned PhDs, including myself, started to increase. I first went to Jinghua after coming back to the country, so I didn’t have a direct experience of the situation at Ji University Departnt of Physics then, but I still heard so things."
"At least at that ti, overseas returned PhDs were indeed stronger than local PhDs—they were stronger in ’absorbing international information’, whether in terms of ideas, knowledge, or research thods, they were genuinely better. Naturally, this group couldn’t understand the academy’s indulgence towards Jie Qifen, which was almost as ridiculous as the whole nation practicing qigong,"
"Moreover, Jie Qifen himself wasn’t very good at interpersonal interactions; he would blurt out anything that ca to mind, and always using his own theories, which led to him single-handedly making enemies with the quantum world."
"Later, with the change in leadership, Jie Qifen’s resources were naturally cut in half day by day, and eventually, even the students he ntored all left."
"Even so, he had a solid foundation and had made contributions; nominating him as a professor should have been no issue."
"But he was stubborn, even though he had lost everything, he still denied the progress made in quantum chanics since the 90s every day, branding 90% of those in the school engaged in quantum chanics as misleaders of the young and pyramid schers."
"This led to his title evaluation being vehently opposed by nearly 90% of the teachers at the school."
"If he were soone without any knowledge, a nobody who hasn’t achieved anything, he would have easily been promoted over these many years, yet he stubbornly remained the sa..."
"Over ti, they simply skipped evaluating him."
"By now, these things have long since passed, and those teachers working on quantum chanics have changed completely; no one even bothers to argue with him anymore."
"I occasionally et him and tell him to apply and try for the evaluation again."
"But he just shakes his head, unconcerned, and walks away."
"As for transferring him to the Experintal Center, that was my idea."
"His classes rate poorly with the ordinary students; few can understand him, and the exams mostly rely on self-study. Moreover, there were a few instances when he openly gave out the exam papers before the test, claiming exams didn’t matter, that everyone was just here for the diploma anyway, and no one really wanted to understand physics..."
"Based on this, letting him continue teaching would not yield good results, either for him or for the School of Physics."
"Regarding his situation, most people think it’s his own fault, he deserved it."
"I personally partially agree with that, but I also understand him."
"He has sufficient mathematical and logical foundations, and his thinking is unusually unique. If there really is any theory that he would choose to stick with even to death, I believe that theory must hold so value worth pursuing."
"Even I wouldn’t mind you trying to understand his theory, but...
Zhong Ping looked seriously at Li Zheng."
"The way you guys are approaching it, the scale of the team..." all our teachers are worried."
"If it were students of lesser potential, we wouldn’t have any concerns."
"Yet it’s precisely you guys, you who are most likely to get deeply involved."
"While my understanding is limited, I am quite aware, his theory is beautiful, very tempting, perhaps comparable to string theory in its form, and what’s more terrifying, it’s an incomplete work, abruptly interrupted... students like you might find it hard to restrain yourselves from completing it."
"But from what I know and what reality shows,"
"It can never be completed."
"At least not in my lifeti."
"That’s the situation, Li Zheng, we don’t want to see another Jie Qifen."
"I know these words may sound annoying, but they’re all for your own good."
"If you insist on pursuing superconductivity theory research, I can put you in contact with the best professor in theoretical physics at our School of Physics."
"This is my stance."
Li Zheng was silent for a long while.
In this silence, he seed to see a more beautifully and yet more annoyingly obstinate version of Jie Qifen.
Self-inflicted, stubborn beyond reason, it served him right—all these descriptions were accurate. Imagining the past Jie Qifen, ranting and raving, repellent in every direction, he was even ugly.
But beneath that facade, that spirit that went forth without looking back, was incredibly captivating.
"It never happened…" Li Zheng said sowhat choked up, shaking his head, "Dean Zhong, all those concerns you ntioned, they actually never existed. Teacher Jie, right from the start to the end, never revealed even half a word of ulterior motive to , including the cellular automaton and the Ga of Life you ntioned; he never taught any of it."
Zhong Ping also pondered for a mont, "I can imagine how restrained he must have been, but if you go on to work together on superconductivity, many issues can’t be sidestepped."
"Hmm," Li Zheng braced himself against the table, slowly standing up, "I understand the situation now, and I will go back and think it over carefully."
"Okay, hard on you," Zhong Ping stood up with a sigh, grasping Li Zheng’s hand, "And please understand our School of Physics teachers, saying these words is our responsibility; no matter what your decision is in the end, we will always support you, even if you insist on undertaking a project with Jie Qifen, I will definitely approve it."
"Thank you, Dean Zhong."
"Alright, let’s not make this too heavy," Zhong Ping smiled and pushed Li Zheng gently, "Let’s go have lunch. If you ever want to study high-energy physics, you’re welco to attend my class."
"Definitely, when it cos to high-energy physics, I only recognize Teacher Zhong!"
In this laughter, the atmosphere finally eased up a bit.
Li Zheng aimlessly walked down the stairs, his mind actually blank, but he subconsciously reached the door of Jie Qifen’s laboratory.
Just as he was about to push the door to see if Jie Qifen had left, a voice that seed both scolding and persuading ca from inside.
"Jie Qifen, please, stop bringing harm to others, can you?"
"Rember that graduate student from before? He almost went insane… Quit school and went ho to work on your stuff…"
"Even if Li Zheng and the others really make sothing of it, once your na appears on the paper, do you think there’s any hope of getting it published?"
"This ti we are talking about top talents from the school, people who the entire educational system has invested many years in nurturing. Can’t you just embrace your theory and chill at ho?"
Li Zheng felt like kicking the door open but couldn’t find a reason to interrupt.
The person speaking must be Professor Lu. It seems how long Zhong Ping had been talking to him was how long he had been discussing matters here with Jie Qifen.
Just as Li Zheng resolved to enter, he heard Jie Qifen’s faint reply.
"It won’t work."
"This kind of subject, they can’t accomplish it with other people, only I can truly understand quantum chanics."
"What they do is their business, but once they find , I will take it."
"Unless you fire now, kill ."
"Everyone leave, I’m off work."
Imdiately after, the voice of the previous associate professor ca through.
"Teacher Jie, I know you feel stifled here… wanting a reason to leave."
"How about this, let think of a way, apply to the dean, and let you go to the theoretical research institute to work on teaching and research."
"Are you crazy?" Jie Qifen replied in disbelief, "I’ve already said, I won’t talk about my theory during teaching. A person in physics has already given up preaching his most cherished truth, what more do you want from ?"
"Like this… like this…" Professor Lu’s voice lowered, "You back off, let Li Zheng co and see , and you try to persuade him too. If they co over to work on the project, we can certainly add your na to any papers produced… Anyway, obtaining a professorship for you won’t be a problem... It’s better than you guys wasting your efforts completely..."
Then, the sound of sothing being smashed followed.
"Bullshit! Damn bullshit!" Jie Qifen burst out the door, striding and cursing, "So you’re using Li Zheng and the others as cash cows, huh? Whoever gets them, gets them? What crap! The people who argued with back then had way more spine than you all."
"Jie Qifen!" Professor Lu imdiately cursed loudly, "Have I given you too much face? You, a waste who freeloads in the School of Physics, even dare to teach Li Zheng???"
"Exactly… don’t go too far," the associate professor also couldn’t help saying, "Sotis you should honestly evaluate yourself. Apart from wasting funds and misleading students, what have you done?"
Following that, the door swung open abruptly, and Jie Qifen, who decided to leave without rebutting, bumped into a stunned Li Zheng.
Jie Qifen’s expression suddenly beca awkward.
Without looking at Li Zheng, he just touched his cigarette and walked away.
The two inside felt even more awkward upon seeing Li Zheng.
Li Zheng looked at them, rely shook his head in disappointnt, and then followed Jie Qifen.
He chased him down to their old spot, the smoking corner.
Jie Qifen didn’t mind him, just took a cigarette for himself, and was about to put away the pack when Li Zheng snatched it and pulled out a cigarette.
"What are you learning, give it to ," Jie Qifen reached out to snatch it back, "If there’s nothing else, just get lost, I’m annoyed."
Li Zheng, however, chuckled and dodged, fiddling with the cigarette, "Does this thing really boost your thinking efficiency?"
"Bullshit." Jie Qifen couldn’t snatch it back and just lit one up for himself, "If it doesn’t work, go find soone else. I can’t stand these people tornting every day."
Li Zheng raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Oh? That’s different from what you just said, didn’t you claim that only you can understand quantum chanics?"
Jie Qifen’s face reddened, and turning his head, he said, "Are we talking nonsense now?"
"Just calming you down, we both endured a lot of pressure today," Li Zheng stretched, looked at the cigarette in his hand, and finally put it back in the pack, "I’m not as weak-willed as you, needing cigarettes for a brief escape."
"Good luck then, hope you’ll never need it."
"Okay, I’ll just ask you one thing," Li Zheng looked earnestly at Jie Qifen, "No nonsense, is it true what you said, that no one understands quantum physics better than you?"
"To be completely honest..." Jie Qifen suddenly felt a bit uneasy, "If it’s worldwide... there might be two or three people who know more than , one in Germany..."
"Alright, enough," Li Zheng patted Jie Qifen, "I’ll go handle so stuff, and we’ll start classes tomorrow."
"Hey… think it through," Jie Qifen swallowed and said, "Although that old jerk Lu was bullshitting, most of what he said was true. If you want results, don’t look for , but learning is fine."
"Heh, when study becos intense, results co uninvited," Li Zheng’s expression brightened, rubbing his hands together, "Co on, Prince of Physics, I’ve been waiting for this mont a long ti… Maybe you’ll be worn out by learning first, or maybe I’ll be the one throwing it all up... who knows..."
At this mont, for the first ti in his academic pursuits, Jie Qifen felt a kind of terror from being dominated.
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