Hello Light

Why are we humans so preoccupied with light? Follow my PhD research as I explore the physics and philosophy of light through Niels Bohr.

It is the second day of a dark December. I’m waiting for my flight to Oslo, a city known especially for its lengthy nights around this time of year. Having lived in Northern Europe for the past 9 years, it would be an understatement to say I’m not a fan of these dark days, nor of this dark part of the globe in general. But the reason for my Norwegian visit is a conference connecting art and science through quantum mechanics. The flashy title of the event is: ‘Entangled Visions.’

Anyone who knows me and a fraction of my story may recognize that attending such a conference is my dream come true. I’m not only talking about the conference itself, but also the fact that I am joining it as a funded PhD candidate and ex-designer who is now focusing on the history and philosophy of Niels Bohr, one of the forefathers of quantum mechanics. Each talk echoes a thought or concept I had previously considered; ‘Concerning the Quantum in Art’, ‘Curating Art-Science Collaborations for Creative Innovations’, or ‘Visualizing the Quantum Ecology: Sensing Across Sights, Imaginations and Design’. The dreamy list goes on and on. And yes—I’m counting my lucky stars every single day.

In complete opposition to the material culture of art, design, or even elements of science, the main focus of my research today, as well as Bohr’s almost a hundred years ago, is a phenomenon that has occupied the minds of many philosophers, scientists, theologians and artists throughout time—light (in the quantum realm). What makes this domain of physics so elusive is the fact that it cannot be visualized in any regular form. In this sense, it is odd to focus on light as a former designer, because although one cannot give it form, it is precisely the thing that allows vision of form. Without light we cannot see paintings, or sculptures, or exhibitions, or dancers. We cannot read books, signs, or see the emotional expressions on the faces of loved ones. Maybe this is the reason the Hebrew verb ‘to publish’ can be literally translated to ‘bring out to light’. Without light, we would not be able to distinguish red from blue or yellow, and their combinations would not make purple, or orange, or green, or all the other colors of the rainbow.

What is light then? It is not material. One cannot touch or taste it (some would argue you can perhaps hear it, but that is another topic). You, or other beings and objects, can emit it but cannot hold it. Light is peculiar, and over a hundred years ago, several scientists became preoccupied by how peculiar it actually is. From Max Plank to Einstein, Schrödinger and Bohr, light has proved to be one of the most anomalous, elusive, and paradoxical phenomena of all. Sometimes it behaves like a particle, and sometimes it behaves like a wave. When one observes it, it changes, but without it, we cannot observe anything. It is the fastest phenomenon we know that can travel in time and defines the speed limit information can travel. Our entire visual experience of the world around us is “delayed” by the finite speed of time. Confused yet?

Light also intertwined with life and health. Along with water and carbon dioxide, it composes the nutrition of plants. Various human cultures have worshiped the sun and its light for millennia. These days, sun worship can be seen as sun bathing. But beyond the trendy spectacle, it is scientifically proven that sun exposure, i.e. light, is beneficial to our physical and mental health. It is now common knowledge that without it, we fall into vitamin D deficiencies, leading to lower immune response, lower vitality, and depression. Yet a hundred years ago, while physicists were preoccupied with understanding the elusive behavior of light, physicians were first discovering the health benefits of light exposure and targeted light wave therapy to the curing of skin conditions. Niels Bohr and his enthrallment with the many curiosities of light, is the topic of my PhD.

Before light entered the domain of science, it was studied by artists. Our three-dimensional, formal, experience of the world is essentially a dance between light and shadows. Renaissance artists learned the technique of chiaroscuro (the treatment of light and shade in illustration) before Galileo applied it to his illustrations of the moon. And before artists and architects studied light and used it to curate spaces and atmospheres, God itself (or a group of some very skilled writers), wrote about it to form one of the most epic opening sentences in The Book of all books:

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And earth was formless and void with darkness over the abyss; and the spirit of God moved over the waters. And God said, ‘let there be light’, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis; 1-4. The original Hebrew text is so much better FYI).

I do not quote this to make a religious statement, but to present it as a testament for the deep historical preoccupation of humanity with the phenomenon of light; whether through science, art, spirituality, or philosophy. In other words, light is quite a big deal for us and will be the very subject matter of my modest blog. So if you continue to follow me, I hope to entertain you with such stories about light, quantum mechanics, philosophy, art, and how all of these intertwined in the mind of one of the most influential physicists of the 20^th century.