3 ms·
Arguably, LASERS and modern semiconductors both rely on our understanding of QM. Hard drives using GMR have been around for at least 16 years. Erasing of flash
by mistercow 13y ago
Arguably, LASERS and modern semiconductors both rely on our understanding of QM. Hard drives using GMR have been around for at least 16 years. Erasing of flash drives uses quantum tunneling. MRIs probably would not be possible without an understanding of QM. Computational chemistry relies heavily on QM.
So no, I don't think your statement is accurate. QM has been giving us cool applications for decades. The amazing thing is that it's still giving us amazing new advances even after all this time.
- ISL 13y agoAgreed entirely; an upvote wasn't enough. Quantum Mechanics has been delivering the goods since their invention. While the maser surely is an explicit application of quantum mechanics, placing theoretical chemistry onto a solid physical framework may have had the greatest aggregate impact on humanity. From a scientific perspective, much of what we know about the universe requires spectroscopy. Everything we know about subatomic processes requires quantum understanding as a prerequisite. Quantum effects are so curious/clever that we should continue to expect interesting surprises into the foreseeable future.