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All religions say that God created the Earth, and after creation, provided air, water, and all other ingredients required for life to sprout on Earth. To provide light, the sun and moon were placed in the sky. Then came all sorts of plants, animals, both on land and in the water, and birds in the sky, exactly as planned by God.  All nonhuman creatures were provided only with limited intelligence, and they are left to their destiny as far as their survival is concerned. Among God’s creations, He gave intelligence only to mankind, which enabled humans to acquire knowledge, and their inquisitive nature drove them to explore further and further. This made humans capable of facing many challenges and surviving in adversities as well. As time progressed, humans started developing arts and science, which made their lives more enjoyable, easy, and comfortable. God was also happy, and He blessed those who lived according to His wishes and punished those who deviated from His teachings.

            As time passed, humans could discover many more planets, moons, and stars like the sun, in their home galaxy itself, and even other galaxies far away from their home galaxy. Many myths, like God placed Earth at the centre of the sky and made the sun, moon, and other heavenly objects move around it, were demolished by man himself. With each such discovery, the glory of God was even more acknowledged and worshipped. Those who disagreed with this idea of God’s creation of the universe were mostly ignored.

            Science has no language of its own; Mathematics is the language of science. Theories in mathematical language are tested and certified in the laboratory of science before it is accepted as universal truths. In other words, very often mathematical theories enabled and assisted science to make its discoveries. For example, those who followed the trajectory of Uranus observed that its path was weird as it did not match the path predicted by Newton’s classical physics. They mathematically predicted the presence and position of another heavy planet in the region, whose gravitational effects caused Uranus to take a weird path. When science focused its telescope on the area pointed out by mathematics, it could discover a new planet, Neptune, in the solar system. One can find many such parallels in the history of science and mathematics, as they complement each other.

Classical physics. authored by Newton and others, could mostly explain the movements and trajectories of heavenly bodies. The aberrations were few and far between to cause any serious repercussions. The universe was acknowledged more or less as deterministic and predictable. Sort of calmness prevailed in the atmosphere.

Calmness usually precedes a storm.

Yes, the biggest storm science had ever confronted came and conquered the scientific world in the form of two theories: the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, describing the universe on large scales and at the quantum level.

While classical physics put forth the absolute nature of space and time, relativity postulated the dilation of space and time relative to the observer’s frame of reference. Further, according to Relativity, the only constant in nature is the velocity of light.

The classical theory explained that the gravitational force between objects guides the motion of heavenly bodies. The theory of Relativity had a different explanation. Relativity postulates that massive bodies bend the space-time, and the bodies follow this space-time curvature (called geodesics). This space-time curvature is what causes the object to take the particular trajectory.

 Three edifices of classical theory were thus shattered.

Time can dilate when the gravity is high, and also at very high speeds. An accurate atomic clock can show different times at sea level and at high altitude. Two people living in different altitudes, for example, one person at sea level and the other on top of a mountain, can age differently; the one living at sea level ages more quickly. Time dilation applies to satellites moving around the Earth. GPS calculation is made by sending radio signals from the earth to the satellite and receiving them back. The effect of time dilation due to the high velocity of the satellite is also taken into account to arrive at exact GPS values. For a space traveller, the time flows slowly as he increases his spaceship’s speed. When a space traveller, after a long trip, returns home, he will be much younger than his twin brother, if he has one. Remember the moment in the movie “Interstellar” when the hero, after his long space travel, meets his daughter, who is much older than he is, when he returns home.

Space and time are interwoven into a four-dimensional space-time. As a spaceship travels through space-time, and as it gets faster and faster, and attains a speed comparable to the speed of light, its length and distance it travels both contract in the direction of its travel; this is a balancing act, since the speed of light is a universal constant and its speed cannot break this constant.

Remember, it is the stationary observer on Earth (observing the spaceship) who would see the length of the spacecraft and the distance it travels as short (space dilation). He will also see time as slow (time dilation) for the ship. For the person inside the spaceship, time, length, and all other happenings inside appear as normal. For him, the outside world is distorted. If he observes Earth, he will feel Earth time as slow and the distance between stars in the direction he travels as shortened, and his spaceship not squashed.

Relativity showed that time is warped and space is curved around massive bodies. Bending of light near the sun (experimentally proved during a solar eclipse subsequently) is due to both gravitational time dilation and space curvature. The Sun’s mass bends the space-time. So, light ends up bending because the space-time itself is curved (geodesic). Near the sun, time runs slower due to gravitational time dilation.

The predictions of the theory of relativity, viz., time dilation, length contraction, gravitational redshift, bending of light, black holes, and gravitational waves, were subsequently proven experimentally. Relativity also predicted dark matter, dark energy, wormholes, time travel, etc.

While Einstein was busy developing his revolutionary ideas through his proposal of the theory of relativity, another branch of modern physics, Quantum mechanics, was making even bigger ripples in the world of science. It began with Max Planck introducing quantum theory, according to which radiations are emitted and absorbed in the form of discrete packets, which he called quanta. This theory has solved phenomena like the blackbody radiation paradox, which classical physics could not explain.

Young physicists like Heisenberg, De-Brogli, Schrödinger, Paul Dirac, and Pauli, who were in their twenties or thirties, followed Planck’s path and introduced even more dramatic ideas, which could revolutionise the world of science, leading to a paradigm shift in how physics observes the universe. Suddenly, quantum mechanics was capable of explaining many mysteries we observe around us in the physical world and the subatomic world, such as identical particles, atomic structure, degeneracy pressure, and the stability of white dwarfs and neutron stars, as well as the origin of cosmic structure, among others.

 Even though the reason why the quantum particles behave as they do is still a mystery, the applications of this mysterious behaviour are everywhere to see, in the form of computers and a host of other electronic equipment and complex machinery, etc.

The double slit experiment, which allowed a jet of electrons/individual electrons (which is believed to be a particle) to pass through double slits on their path, gave a completely unexpected zebra skin-like dark and bright pattern on the screen on which they were allowed to hit. This result was totally surprising (only waves were expected to create such a pattern due to interference). The classical theory could not explain it and remained a mystery.

 This mystery only got multiplied exponentially when the experiment was repeated in subsequent years with more sophisticated equipment. Scientists watched the quantum particles coming out of slits, before they fell on the screen. To the utter astonishment of scientists, those particles which were watched stopped behaving the way they had behaved earlier, when they were not watched! This remains a mystery, even today!!  

It was Louis de Broglie who proposed the idea of wave-particle duality. His idea was that if light, which is an electromagnetic wave, can behave like a particle (photon), then particles like electrons can behave like a wave. This is the wave-particle duality idea. Electron diffraction by crystals and thin films confirmed that electrons show wave-like interference and diffraction exactly as predicted by De Broglie.

One of the revolutionary ideas of quantum mechanics is that it predicts a number of probabilities and not a single outcome for the event. Particles like electrons do not have a separate, well-defined position and velocity. Instead, they had a quantum state, which is a combination of position and velocity defined by Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. It is impossible to measure the position and velocity of an electron accurately at a given moment. Unlike in the real world, electrons at times can have different positions and velocities. The electron could behave as a particle or as a wave, as happened in double slit experiments.

 Schrodinger arrived at an equation that allowed for the probable movement of electrons (position) and energy in a system over time, and interpreted the particle-wave duality. The equation mathematically describes the quantum state (wave function) of the system, which changes with time, providing information like where it might be, its momentum, and how it behaves. Schrodinger’s equation is regarded as the law of motion for quantum states, and it explains atomic spectra, tunnelling, chemical bonding, and semiconductor physics with extreme accuracy.

Further studies in quantum tunnelling won Nobel prizes in subsequent years, the last one as recent as October’2025. Will further research in quantum tunnelling make teleporting of objects possible, one day?

In classical physics, knowing the present exactly allows the prediction of the future. In quantum mechanics, the uncertainty of knowing the present prevents complete determinism. The uncertainty principle sets fundamental limits on what can be known.

Another contemporary theoretical physicist, Wolfgang Pauli, came up with his revolutionary idea, Pauli’s exclusion principle. It states that two similar particles cannot exist in the same state, that is, they cannot have the same position and the same velocity. If the matter particles have the same position, they must have different velocities, which means that they will not stay in the same position for long. That is why the fundamental building block, quarks, take different forms, protons and neutrons, and together with electrons form separate, defined atoms.

That means, if the fundamental particles do not follow this exclusion principle, the universe we see today would not have formed.

 This theory was further developed by Paul Dirac, who mathematically established the existence of a partner for the electron, the positron, which is an anti-electron. The existence of the positron was subsequently established in a laboratory. Today, we know that every particle has an antiparticle, with which it can annihilate. (If a space traveller happens to meet his counterpart in another universe, he should not shake hands with that guy !!!)

We get amazing predictions and ideas when we combine the world of small particles (quantum mechanics) and the world of very massive and very fast-moving bodies (theory of relativity). Some of them are proven, some are likely, and many are speculative.

Quantum Entanglement (spooky twins). It’s real, and we use it in quantum computers and quantum communication. Two particles can become linked so strongly that changing one instantly affects the other, no matter how far apart they are. In quantum mechanics, particles don’t have a fixed outcome-they exist in superposition. When the properties of one entangled particle are measured, the other instantly takes the matching values – even across light-years.

Hawking Radiation. (Black Hole Glow). As per classical relativity, nothing can escape a black hole, not even light, because of the extreme gravity. But according to quantum physics, even (empty) space is buzzing with tiny virtual particles that pop in and pop out of existence in pairs, one particle and its opposite, as we have seen already. Normally, they cancel each other quickly.  Imagine one of such pairs formed at the edge of the black hole. One may fall into the black hole due to gravity, and the other may escape into space. For the outside world, it is like a black hole emitting tiny radiations. Over a long period, this process causes the black hole to lose mass, and if left alone long enough, it could shrink and eventually vanish, along with all the information it contains. Quantum mechanics says that information cannot be destroyed. Relativity, combined with Hawking radiation, suggests that information is lost. This paradox led to the idea of quantum gravity and string theory and may, one day, lead to the unification of the force of gravity with the other three fundamental forces, viz. Electro-Magnetic force, strong nuclear force, and weak nuclear force, making the grand unification of the four fundamental forces a reality.

Birth of Galaxies from Tiny Fluctuations. During the BIG Bang inflation, tiny quantum jitters (density variations) became the seeds of galaxies, stars, and planets, the evidence of which is seen in the ripples of cosmic microwave background radiation.

The combination of the Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics has also theoretically predicted the existence of some phenomena that science is still trying to observe and measure to prove their existence.

 Dark matter (Invisible Cosmic glue). To explain the way the galaxies are spinning with stability, the gravitational effects of known mass in the universe are not adequate to hold them together. This points towards the presence of dark matter in the universe, made up of new mysterious particles like WIMPs (weakly interacting Massive Particles) or axions, which do not interact with light and hence remain invisible.

 Dark Energy (Cosmic antigravity). Modern telescopes have shown that the universe is continuously expanding at an increasing rate, in spite of the attractive gravitational force between them. What is driving the cosmic acceleration, overcoming the gravitational force, is a big mystery. Quantum mechanics says that empty space is not truly empty and suggests that the presence of vacuum energy or dark energy may be the reason behind the mystery. It is estimated that the universe we see, that is, the planets, satellites and stars, constitutes just 5 per cent of the universe, dark matter about 27 per cent, and dark energy the remaining 68 per cent of the universe.

The combined theory of Relativity and Quantum mechanics offers many other exciting possibilities, even though it has not been proved yet.

Wormholes (Cosmic Shortcuts). General Relativity permits tunnels through space-time, which are nothing but shortcuts across the universe. Quantum mechanics suggests that quantum energy can keep them open, but it requires exotic conditions like negative energy, which the currently existing technology could not produce. There is also a theory that black holes are opening to another universe. The other end of a black hole could be another universe. So if one could produce negative energy, which, for understanding, may be imagined as repulsive energy to overcome the gravitational force inside a black hole, one can reach another universe, which may have another set of rules of physics.

Time Travel. Time dilation is real and proven. Wormhole’s existence in reality is yet to be proved. Wormholes bend space-time so much so that it loops back into the past. So the time travel could be possible if technology could produce exotic things like negative energy.

Multiverse. 1) Cosmic multiverse: The Big Bang is what eventually caused the creation of the universe. Quantum fluctuations during inflation could produce many disconnected bubble universes. Our universe may be just one bubble among so many, each with its own set of rules of physics. 2). Quantum Multiverse: With every quantum measurement, the wave function produces noninteracting world branches (the universe itself split into branches), as per the interpretation of the Schrodinger equation. There is no fixed outcome in quantum mechanics, as particles exist in superposition, and all outcomes happen in parallel universes. When the properties of one entangled particle are measured, the other instantly takes the matching values – even across light-years. Instead of choosing just one outcome, the universe itself may split into branches. So there could be another Earth where another version of man lives, made from the quantum split. 

Today, we know that the universe is expanding. Can it expand forever? Whether the space is infinitely flat so that the universe could expand forever. Or is it curved? Does the universe have infinite energy to expand forever? Is it likely that the rate of expansion could eventually slow down, and at a point, the universe will stop expanding, halt, and start to recede? Will it finally collapse to a singularity? (The Big Crunch). Could there be another Big Bang eventually? Unfortunately, Science does not know anything about the universe before the Big Bang. It is not able to comprehend the idea of singularity, either.

Many scientists believe that if there is a God, He interfered with the universe only up to the Big Bang. From the Big Bang, God left the universe to evolve on its own, with certain rules or conditions, such as the exclusion and uncertainty principles, quantum entanglement, tunnelling, and wormholes, to name a few, as God had chosen. Did God intend it that way, so that His creations are only allowed to live the way He wished, or will those paradoxes also be eventually decoded, or will they remain a mystery all the time?

The quantum world is ruled by probabilities, exclusions, superpositions, entanglement and uncertainty, unknown to us. In this world, particles exist in multiple positions simultaneously, and their behaviour can be influenced by observation, intention and interaction with other systems. Does it mean that what we perceive as luck in daily life is a result of complex quantum interactions, and not a mystery? Does that mean a positive outcome in daily life could be influenced by positive expectations and mindset?   

Einstein’s initial equations in his theory of relativity predicted a dynamic universe, not a static one. Later, to reconcile his theory with the static universe belief, Einstein introduced the cosmological constant as a repulsive force that countered gravity in his general theory of relativity. When Edwin Hubble later provided evidence for an expanding universe, Einstein called the cosmological constant the biggest blunder of his life.

The story does not end there. Later observations and findings revealed that the expansion of the universe is not decelerating, but is actually increasing. This acceleration is attributed to the effect of dark energy, a mysterious form of vacuum energy. The cosmological constant is now understood as a potential explanation of this dark energy, thus proving that Einstein was right, after all !!!!

Albert Einstein was not an atheist, even though his concept of God is different from what religions teach us. His belief led him to make his famous words, “God does not play dice with the universe.”

Jarard Thomas

08/10/25