Passion for Knowledge - Quantum 13 - , 30 Sept - 6 Oct 2013, Basque Country

General information > Why Quantum 13?

Why Quantum 13?

The first Passion for Knowledge in 2010 was a fest that brought world leading scientists and humanists together from different disciplines, cultures and thinking to celebrate the tenth anniversary of DIPC under the commitment for the progress of science driven by a love of knowledge for its own sake.

DIPC carries on with its mission and commitment, and this time, the year 2013 has been chosen because we will jointly celebrate the 100 anniversary of the birth of Bohr's atomic model, one of the fundamental milestones in the development of quantum mechanics.

In 1913 the Danish physicist Niels Bohr proposed a new atomic model for describing the nature and properties of atoms. That model explained some of the incomprehensible properties that had been observed in atoms, using the ground-breaking discoveries of both Max Plank, regarding the emission of thermal energy by hot bodies, and Albert Einstein, regarding the photoelectric effect. The most novel thing about the Bohr's atomic model was that it postulated the quantization or discretization of atomic states, which served as the springboard for the subsequent development of what is today known as Quantum Mechanics.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1922 was awarded to Niels Bohr "for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them".

Few theories in physics aroused as much curiosity and interest as quantum mechanics, and probably no one else has had such a great impact on our lives in such a short time. Indeed, quantum mechanics, apart from having transformed our understanding of nature and universe, has led to numerous technological applications that surround us in our daily life: from electronics, where the electron quantum properties offer the possibility to transmit and process information, to medicine, where in many cases, thanks to quantum mechanics we have more accurate and less invasive diagnosis techniques. It is difficult to find fields in which quantum mechanics does not have a significant impact on our quality of life.