The general relativity of physics and quantum mechanics helped revolutionize our understanding of the world. A theory of quantum gravity linking the two could be a revolution in itself.
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Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity revolutionized scientific understanding of the universe, leading to countless discoveries, including super-precise navigation by Global Positioning System satellites.
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Formulated in the 1920s, quantum mechanics revolutionized scientific understanding of the tiniest particles at the atomic level, leading to the creation of semiconductors, modern computers, and lasers.
The problem, according to physicist Philip Stamp of the University of British Columbia, is that the two theories, which govern all of physics and, by extension, all of science, contradict each other.
Arriving at a theory of quantum gravity to reconcile the two has preoccupied physicists for decades and will be the topic of this week’s conference in Vancouver, which brings together the best scientists in the field.
“Once we have a theory of quantum gravity, we will have a theory that applies to everything from the very, very large objects in the universe to the very smallest, and it will be a revolution,” Stamp said. “And like all revolutions, it will revolutionize our lives in ways we can barely imagine.”
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Perhaps new technologies in communications, medicine or clean energy. Nobel laureate Kip Thorne of the California Institute of Technology has even theorized about the possibility of time travel.
In many ways, however, the possibilities are truly unknown.
“If you had asked someone 100 years ago what would come of those two theories, they would not have been able to tell you,” said financier and philanthropist Frank Giustra. “It would have been impossible to predict the technological advances that would have come about.”
Yet the excitement of the possible is what inspired Giustra and co-founders Terry Hui and Paul Lee to establish what they call the Quantum Gravity Institute in Vancouver, to house a key 220,000-page archive of articles, manuscripts, notes and thousands of hours of footage transferred from the UK.
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“There are a lot of tech companies moving to Vancouver, but I also think it’s important to have smart people in basic research,” said Hui, who developed a passion for physics through a bachelor’s degree in the discipline from the University of California. in Berkeley.
And quantum gravity “is the top of the food chain in the knowledge industry,” Hui added. “This is the holy grail.”
Describing himself as a “science tourist,” Hui said the idea for an institute came up in an informal discussion when he welcomed Lee and renowned Oxford physicist Sir Roger Penrose in January 2019 on his boat in False Creek.
“It was a meeting between these four guys, so we talked about this idea,” Hui said. “I have always understood that this is a major problem.”
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Giustra, who has become an enthusiastic fan of theoretical physicists over the past 20 years, joined the effort through Stamp.
“They had already started this conversation about creating this institute and bringing the archive here to Vancouver, so I joined the conversation two years ago and said, let’s make it happen,” Giustra said.
The founding group now includes Moe Kermani, Lee’s partner at Vanedge Capital, tech entrepreneur Markus Frind, along with top physicists Stamp, Penrose, UBC’s Bill Unruh, and UC Berkeley’s Birgitta Whaley.
“It’s very important to look at the lessons of history,” Stamp said, pointing to the first discoveries in semiconductors at Bell Labs in New Jersey in the 1930s, which became one of the most important centers of new technology in the 20th century. .
“The point I’m trying to make is that the people who are there at ground level at the beginning are the ones who benefit,” Stamp said. And the founders hope that, for quantum gravity, maybe that’s Vancouver.
The institute’s inaugural conference opened Monday at the Westin Bayshore Hotel Conference Center and will have a public opening day on Wednesday, with a day of lounge-style public lectures and a VIP luncheon discussing why quantum gravity matters, with Nobel laureates Thorne and Jim Peebles.
