Lecture 1: Introduction to Superposition

MIT 8.04 Quantum Physics I, Spring 2013
Instructor: Allan Adams

In this lecture, Prof. Adams discusses a series of thought experiments involving "box apparatus" to illustrate the concepts of uncertainty and superposition, which are central to quantum mechanics. The first ten minutes are devoted to course information.

License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

[zay.]

I've been to 3 universities in the past 15 minutes: MIT, Harvard, and Stanford. You could say I'm something of a genius.

[harshitchoudhary]

Getting that MIT education without life crushing loans

[lecturesbywalterlewin.they]

Prof Adams is a great Lecturer! Very enthusiastic, very knowledgeable, with a sense of humor.

[LoldemortII]

When he turns to the crowd and asks „Questions?“
Me: Yes, why am I here at 2am?

[Majoen]

32:56
"The miracle is not that electrons behave oddly. The miracle ist that when you take 10^27 electrons, they behave like cheese."

[jaimemenapadilla]

This guy fucking loves what he knows, and he wants you to love it too, which is incredibly refreshing.

[PotatoGod]

This is an absolutely great professor. I wish I had professors like him.

[jamiecfthedrummer]

Heisenberg and Schrodinger are speeding down the highway when a state
cop pulls them over. The cop walks up to the window and asks Heisenberg,
"Do you know how fast you were going?"
Heisenberg replies, "No, but I knew where I was."
The cop says, "You were going over 90 miles per hour!"
To which Heisenberg replies, "Fine. Now we're lost."
Thinking this answer is a little strange, the cop decides to investigate
the vehicle. He begins by opening the trunk. Shocked by what he finds,
he shouts, "You have a dead cat in here!"
Schrodinger answers, "Well I do now!"

[mercster]

I'm almost as amazed at MIT's complex blackboard system than the quantum superposition of subatomic molecules.

[michaeldavis]

MIT, thank you for having courses such as "Quantum Physics" uploaded to YouTube for people to learn. As a person that has autism, it is much easier for me to learn in a relaxing environment where there are little to no distractions, and at the pace I want. Keep up the great work!

[firstnamelastname]

Damn these students are lucky to have such a passionate professor

[nid]

conlusion : definition of superposition is "I don't know what's going on"

[shahedulislam]

Took a quantum mechanics course from a desi guru who happens to be among the toppers and I gave up thinking I'm not good enough..this guy made me go over 6 lectures in a week and still hungry to go over again....inspiration is the key to make passionate innovators or scientists or teachers...I wish I had them...good luck to all of you lucky ones who gets to be inspired in early days..inspire your little ones too...

[gamerN]

I can't stress enough how much I love the fact that MIT is providing those courses online for free for anyone to watch. Who knew, that a 17 year old German law student like me could get his hands on quantum mechanics lectures of MIT ^^

[mescalinemonkey]

I wish stuff like this was aired on public tv.

[jasonchiang]

he's so passionate about the topic. Really a great professor

[chickenliver]

I am so very grateful that i have stumbled across this channel. As a person who is only watching these videos for the curiosity that i have towards quantum physics, this has helped me understand the topic and it makes me feel that i am physically sat in the lecture room!.

thank you

[BudFieldsPPTS]

As an educator, what I enjoyed most in this presentation was the "buzz" of learning. From the passion and enthusiasm of the lecturer to the engagement of the students, this shows a really awesome lecture. Well done. Very well done.

[braeling]

I watched this lecture and was like “hey I might understand this” then I watched the second lecture and realized I’m not a physics major.

[Oscalishious]

I was quite sucky at physics in high school, but I've always been really fascinated by QM, even though I never really got a full grasp of it. Now having found this video, I'm starting to get the basics and that honestly feels amazing! I've never seen such an enthusiastic and fun prof. as Prof. Adams & am really glad I have the opportunity to listen to him teach! :)