BY TYLER RONEY

Physics Feuer

BY TYLER RONEY

China’s scientifi c ambitions and discoveries are changing the way we see the physical world

秒殺《星際穿越》，中國物理的最高境界

From fi nding binary black holes in galaxies light years away to patiently pouring over four million bits of data over two kilometers underground to fi nd evidence of dark matter, China’s entrance into the world of physics has taken the world by storm.

Just last year Chinese scientists measured the speed at which quantum particles interact with one another. The greatest minds in physics pondered the question for decades; the eminent Albert

Einstein called the idea impossible because it would need to break the speed limit of the universe, the speed of light, dubbing it “spukhafte Fernwirkung”, or “spooky action at a distance”. Juan Yin and his team at the University of Science and Technology in Shanghai decided to measure this “spooky action” by shooting photons from a fi sh farm on Qinghai Lake over 15 kilometers and measuring the state for 12 hours. The results were astounding. This “spooky action” didn’t just break the speed limit of the universe, it obliterated it, occurring at least 10,000 times the speed of light, three trillion meters per second.

The study of physics is a wide fi eld, from astrophysics and gravitation to fl uid dynamics and quantummechanics. China has only recently become a major player in the now popular world of physics, but modern developments point to China becoming the world’s premier source of scientifi c exploration in the fi eld. China has the money, the brain power, and a pressing need to prove itself, and while landing on the moon and manually docking at a space station are all well and good, the heart of scientifi c discovery lies in the necessity to understand the physical world.

But, while one might happily wax philosophical on Juan Yin’s team’s discovery being about the art of reading a sunbeam, there are advantages beyond the academic in physics discoveries. The world runs on physics, be it airplanes or quantum computers, and the Middle Kingdom’s foray into the realm of discovery is one of boundless possibilities. And, while building a several billion dollar, 80-kilometer tube to smash protons together isn’t going to solve China’s smog problem anytime soon, doing this puts China in a unique position to change the world in ways unimaginable in the recent past.

In 1986, China published just four pieces with Physical Review Letters, a benchmark publication for achievement and discovery in the physical sciences. Ten years later, that number reached 28, and in 2006 China published 202, putting it on par with countries like Spain. Today, some of the most advantageous experiments in the various fi elds are done in China and are producing results that are critically changing the way we view the world around us. China shows no signs of slowing down and the investments the country makes in grand physics experiments and discoveries today will put the next generation on the path to making China the planet’s greatest science superpower.