Although quantum mechanics is typically mislabelled as a very recent concept, it actually dates back to 1900 - an entire 53 preceding the landmark discovery of the double helix DNA structure made by Franklin, Crick and Watson. Its initial reputation as a branch of science set to revolutionise and rebel against the classical principles of physics, yet over time quantum mechanics has become deeply integrated into the fundamental laws of life. For example, the device that you are currently reading this on would not be able to exist without the quantum principles of superconductors and electronics.
Having outlined its importance, it is still crucial to understand what 'quantum' actually means in the context of science. Energy can be seen not as a continuous transferral, but as something passed on in indivisible chunks labelled 'quanta'. These quanta take many forms, but the most widely-recognised is the photon, which acts as a vector of light. Quantum mechanics deals with the interactions between these quanta and their environment, on an imperceptibly small scale of subatomic particles and fields of charge.
The electron plays a critical role in both the understanding and the complexity of quantum mechanics, as a result of the theory that electrons exhibit properties not exclusively like particles, but also oftentimes as waves in a state similar to energy itself. These waves are of interest as they show some quantum properties. These include the ability to 'exist' in more than one place at once; this is due to the fact that the location of an electron in its orbital at any given time can be reduced to a probability rather than a certain coordinate. It is thought that while an electron is not being observed, the probability mechanisms work in a way that the electron could feasibly exist in multiple spaces within its orbital. This changes as the electron is measured, or theoretically observed, however, since its existence in two places at once is not definite and is instead based on abstract probability and as soon as it is defined as in one place, there is now a 100% probability of it occurring in this location at the exact time of observation.
This principle is applicable in theory, but on a larger, multi-particle scale system, the randomness of these probabilities have the tendency to cancel out and the overall disorder minimises the effect of any quantum events such as tunnelling in which particles seem to be able to 'jump' an energy barrier without overcoming it and instead skipping directly through. While this can happen on a smaller level, it is relatively impossible for a whole human being to experience this tunnelling effect as this would require the alignment and coordinated tunnelling of so many subatomic particles that the chances of this happening are far lower than either of us ever winning the lottery.
One of the pioneers of this theory was Pascual Jordan, a German-born theoretical physicist who published a groundbreaking research paper on the matter in 1932, titled 'Quantum Mechanics and the Fundamental Problems of Biology and Psychology'. However, this paper was shocking in a more unexpected way - while the scientific concepts he presented were factual and researched, he presented his findings rather controversially.
At the time in Germany, something else was brewing: this time period of the early 30s to mid-40s marked the rise and fall of the Nazi empire. And alongside inspirational ideas surrounding quantum biophysics, Jordan fell into the trap of these radical and authoritarian views still condemned globally to this day, gradually succumbing to intensifying political beliefs that infiltrated his papers. In this unsettling line from his paper, the prioritisation and deification of the government was set out clearly: '...absorption of a light quantum in the steering centre of the cell can bring the entire organism to death and dissolution - similarly to the way a successfully executed assault against a leading statesman can set and entire nation into a profound process of dissolution.' (Jordan, 1932)
In comparing the risk of damage to the central 'authority' of a cell, Jordan promoted the argument that submitting to higher power was biological, a somewhat natural and science-defined order of life. Submit to a higher power was exactly what Jordan would consequently go on to do as the year directly following the publication of his striking paper, he joined the Nazi party himself. The reasons for this were largely left up to debate as in his own defence, he frequently claimed that he only joined the party in a bid to prevent Nazi regimes from colliding with the world of science (Dahn, 2023); this is exactly what he ended up doing himself. His papers in the years that followed grew more and more littered with references - implicit and implicit - towards the agendas of the party, as he fell into frequent correspondence with many other individuals more closely linked to Hitler himself.
Until 1933, Jordan adopted a pseudonym to write under called 'Domeier' that he utilised to conceal his Nazi involvement from the rest of the scientific community, including those that he has collaborated with in the years before. Just eight days before he made his move to join the party, he finally published a propaganda-rich paper under his own name, forever linking himself, and the scientific community he stood for, to Nazi ideology and contemporary politics. In this paper, he urged the University of Rostock to take on a 'militant character' (Dahn, 2023) in a way overtly supportive of the party's regimes.
Despite some accuracy to his statements - particularly the notion that living organisms are distinct from organic matter in their centralisation of key molecules (such as proteins and DNA) (Al-Khalili and McFadden, 2014) - Jordan's work was ultimately dismissed by his contemporaries and thus rarely referenced in the current scientific world save for in the context of his political involvement. Perhaps the most controversial outcome of this was the criticism received by the men he used to collaborate on research with, Wigner and von Neumann. Many argue that they should have cut ties with him following the surfacing of the scandal, but fail to realise that their own credit for papers was on the line - alongside their lack of clear knowledge regarding the situation as a direct result of the pseudonym he wrote under. The public at the time were physically, if not mentally, subject to many sources of influence and propaganda dictating the way they should think, interact and live and showing active disrespect for Nazi ideologies may have turned many of their alliances against them.
After all, should we really allow politics to infiltrate the world of science? Perhaps it is best to try and differentiate Jordan's scientific accomplishments from his political shortcomings. However, doing so would completely disregard the fact that he himself was incapable of removing governmental influences from his writings and let explicit biases slip through. Pulling the life out of a scientist's life work is, by definition, impossible, and to learn from and truly appreciate scientific history, we must understand the context in which it was written.
https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/76/1/44/2877362/Nazis-emigres-and-abstract-mathematicsToday-Jordan
date accessed: 15/02/2024
J. Al-Khalili and J. McFadden, Life on the Edge (Bantam Press, 2014)
Die Naturwissenschaften, vol. 20 (1932), pp. 815-2
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