Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

One of the early results of quantum mechanics was particle-wave
duality, where light could be thought of either as a particle with
existence as an object in itself or as a wave of some sort. That result
was extended to mass, so that both light and matter could be seen either
way. But waves need a medium; that is, waves must be waves in something.
now called the standard model, which accounts for all forces and subatomic
In 1924, the air was full of talk about two major discoveries
in science.
One was Planck’s quantization of energy from blackbodies,
such that for a single photon Eh h
of light.
The other was Einstein’s theory of relativity, according to
which Emc 2 . Mass, Einstein said, was just another form of
energy, and there should be ways to convert this energy back
and forth as long as the energy in total is conserved.
The French physicist Louis de Broglie noted that energy is
something that changes form. We can turn electricity into heat,
and heat into chemical reactions, such as making water into steam.
Steam can be used to power an engine that does mechanical work;
mechanical work can lift an object, giving rise to gravitational
potential energy; and so on. If Plank says that Eh
says that Emc 2 , it ought to follow that hmc 2 .
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