The talk will begin with the First Quantum Revolution, which took place at the beginning of the 20^th century. This period saw the birth of quantum mechanics and a paradigm shift from classical to quantum physics. 

The basic departure in our thinking about the world that quantum mechanics has brought about will be described. The counterintuitive aspects of the quantum framework to describe physical reality will be elaborated upon. The key quantum notions of superposition, measurement and entanglement will be described. 

The criticism of Einstein via his EPR paper and developments related to Bell’s inequalities and the observations of Bell violations in experiments and finally the Physics Nobel Prizes of 2022 will also be discussed.

The talk will also briefly touch upon the Second Quantum Revolution which encompassed the applications of quantum theory to develop pathbreaking technologies ranging from computers to semiconducting devices to lasers and superconductors. 

The talk will conclude with a discussion about the Third Quantum Revolution, which took place towards the end of the 20^th century and brought together key ideas from quantum physics and classical information theory. The new developments that are currently taking place in the area of quantum communication, quantum metrology and quantum computing will be taken up.

About the Speaker

Arvind is Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University and Professor, Physical Sciences, IISER Mohali.