Wikinventia — Atlas of discoveries and inventions · Industrial Age

EPR paradox — non-local quantum correlations — Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen

1935 AD · Transmission: Global
PhysicsTheoryNorth American

In 1935 Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen publish "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?": since measuring one entangled particle instantaneously determines the outcome for the other regardless of distance, and no influence can propagate faster than light, they argue quantum mechanics must be incomplete, requiring hidden variables. In 1964 Bell shows local hidden-variable theories make experimentally distinguishable predictions; later experiments (Aspect, 1982) confirm nature violates Bell's inequalities. The EPR paradox, designed to refute quantum mechanics, becomes the starting point of quantum information, cryptography, and computing.

InstitutionInstitute for Advanced Study, Princeton
Historical regionUSA
Primary sourceEinstein, A., Podolsky, B. & Rosen, N. (1935). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRev.47.777
Secondary sourceBell, J.S. (1964); Aspect, A. et al. (1982)
Original languageEnglish
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