STREAMING PROGRAM INFORMATION

• This program is part of our Smithsonian Associates Streaming series.
• Platform: Zoom
• Online registration is required.
• If you register multiple individuals, you will be asked to supply individual names and email addresses so they can receive a Zoom link email. Please note that if there is a change in program schedule or a cancellation, we will notify you via email, and it will be your responsibility to notify other registrants in your group.

Celebrated 20th-century physicist Richard Feynman famously said, "I think I can safely say that nobody really understands quantum mechanics." Sean Carroll, an acclaimed theoretical physicist, is determined to reintroduce this vital science to a new generation.

Carroll believes that many of his fellow physicists need to acknowledge gaps in the understanding of quantum mechanics—which seems to have ossified somewhere in the 1930s. Drawing on his book Something Deeply Hidden, Carroll attempts to demystify quantum mechanics. He argues that the best way we currently have to understand quantum phenomena is the Many Worlds Theory, first articulated by Hugh Everett in the 1950s: Every time there is a quantum event, a world splits off with everything in it the same, except in that other world that quantum event didn't happen.

He tackles the major objections to this theory and discusses its far-reaching implications for how we think about ourselves, our place in reality, and how we should examine long-standing issues such as reconciling quantum mechanics with general relativity, Einstein's theory of spacetime and gravity.

In the final video of his Biggest Ideas series, Carroll focused on a very big idea—science, which he declared is “awesome.” Travel with him through that realm now, and you will have to agree.

Something Deeply Hidden (Dutton Books) is available for purchase.

Book Sale Information

• Purchase your copy of Something Deeply Hidden by Sean Carroll here.
• SPECIAL NOTE: Politics and Prose is offering a 10% discount to Smithsonian Associates ticket-holders. To claim your discount, enter the code SPECIAL10 in the “Coupon discount” section of Politics and Prose's check-out page.

Patron Information

• Once registered, patrons should receive an automatic email confirmation from CustomerService@SmithsonianAssociates.org.
• Separate Zoom link information will be emailed closer to the date of the program. If you do not receive your Zoom link information 24 hours prior to the start of the program, please email Customer Service for assistance.
• View Common FAQs about our Streaming Programs on Zoom.