Discovering the Multiverse: Quantum Mechanics and Hugh Everett III, with Peter Byrne — #22

Peter Byrne is an investigative reporter and science writer based in Northern California. His popular biography, The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett III - Multiple Universes, Mutual Assured Destruction, and the Meltdown of a Nuclear Family (Oxford University Press, 2010) was followed by publication of The Everett Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Collected Works 1957-1980, (Princeton University Press, 2012), co-edited with philosopher of science, Jeffrey A. Barrett, of UC Irvine.

Everett's formulation of quantum mechanics, which implies the existence of a quantum multiverse, is favored by a significant (and growing) fraction of working physicists.

Steve and Peter discuss:

0:00 How Peter Byrne came to write a biography of Hugh Everett

18:09 Everett’s personal life and groundbreaking thesis as a catalyst for the book

24:00 Everett and Decoherence

31:25 Reaction of other physicists to Everett’s many worlds theory

40:46 Steve’s take on Everett’s many worlds theory

43:41 Peter on the bifurcation of science and philosophy

49:21 Everett’s post-academic life

52:58 How Hugh Everett is remembered now

References:

• Many Worlds posts on Infoproc
• Conversations with Dieter Zeh
• Macroscopic Superpositions in Isolated Systems

Music used with permission from Blade Runner Blues Livestream improvisation by State Azure.

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Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU.

Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on Twitter @hsu_steve.