This document is a poem describing a fictional evening gathering of great physicists from history. It discusses some of their major scientific works and debates, including Newton's laws of motion, Young's wave theory of light, Maxwell's unification of electricity and magnetism, Einstein's work on the photoelectric effect and relativity, Bohr's complementarity principle, and debates around quantum theory and Schrodinger's cat experiment. The poem suggests that while physics has come a long way, much remains to be discovered.

1. The Ghost in the Theory
or
How I Saw Things Both This Way and That
This was written when I was a student and had some illusions of
poetic competence. Time has thankfully dispelled these illusions,
but at least the physics is still accurate.

2. The Ghost in the Theory
or
How I Saw Things Both This Way and That
This was written when I was a student and had some illusions of
poetic competence. Time has thankfully dispelled these illusions,
but at least the physics is still accurate.
Mostly.

3. Pray, step through these ancient doors of Mind
To a room set for Speeches, and therein find
The clock at a standstill, and ranged on the stage
The great men of Physics, unblemished by age
Each with a verse to tell of his deeds
So pray now be seated – the evening proceeds!

4. Pray, step through these ancient doors of Mind
To a room set for Speeches, and therein find
The clock at a standstill, and ranged on the stage
The great men of Physics, unblemished by age
Each with a verse to tell of his deeds
So pray now be seated – the evening proceeds!
Both “the clock at a standstill” and “unblemished by age” would of course violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics,
implying as they do that Time’s Arrow could in some sense be halted or even reversed. This is what we call “poetic licence”
and is allowed, even in a work about physics, as long as it is confined to the introductory verse and is adequately
footnoted. The science gets better later on.
You can cheat in exams, you can cheat the taxman, you can even cheat your mother. But you can’t cheat the Second Law.

5. There rose to his feet quite the oldest of all
As our Host with great pride “Sir Isaac!” did call
“In my time”, quoth the doughty, “I thought myself wise
Yet now I would hold that to be but disguise
For all you young striplings dare say to my face
That all of my Laws are but one special case!”

6. “Young!” called the Master, and that worthy did speak
Of matters concerning the trough and the peak
On the corpuscles of Newton he threw gravest doubt
(Tho’ his manner towards him was courteous throughout)
“For light is a wave, and not these fool rays
As the pattern behind my Slits clearly displays!”

7. We paused then for lunch, and when we resumed
The Scotsman James Maxwell spoke next to the room
“My life’s work, good people, has been from the start
To make One what had been distinct and apart
And though from Sir Isaac great things we’ve heard
To prove Light’s a wave, as Young has averred!”

8. Our Host called out “Einstein!”, and all sat in awe
As this greatest of Scientists now took the floor
Bowing to Maxwell he acknowledged his Proof
But turning to Newton, cried “You have the Truth!
For how can a wave such as Fresnel so likes
Cause electrons to fly from a surface it strikes?

9. Our Host called out “Einstein!”, and all sat in awe
As this greatest of Scientists now took the floor
Bowing to Maxwell he acknowledged his Proof
But turning to Newton, cried “You have the Truth!
For how can a wave such as Fresnel so likes
Cause electrons to fly from a surface it strikes?
Einstein won the Nobel prize for his work on the
photoelectric effect, not for his far better known work
on relativity. In 1915, (the year in which the General
Theory of Relativity, arguably the crowning
achievement of human thought, was published) the
Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to Lawrence and
William Bragg.
Sometimes the Nobel Committee does itself no favours.

10. We applauded his wit, yet were left sore confused
This paradoxical Light left us greatly confused
Elusive in nature, both wanton and shy
But then came Niels Bohr with a twinkling eye
“I Interpret it thusly” said he, with a smile
“Not solid nor wave, but both all the while!”

11. The Solvay Conference of 1927, called to discuss the Copenhagen
Interpretation of the quantum theory. Among the attendees were
Einstein, Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Dirac, de Broglie, Bohr, Planck and
Marie Curie.
This may be the most intelligent group photograph ever taken by a
human being.

12. The wise men debated from the night to the morn
From Gamow to Feynman, from Wigner to Born

13. The wise men debated from the night to the morn
From Gamow to Feynman, from Wigner to Born
We heard things Uncertain, and too much of that
We even debated the fate of a cat!

14. The wise men debated from the night to the morn
From Gamow to Feynman, from Wigner to Born
We heard things Uncertain, and too much of that
We even debated the fate of a cat!
And the conclusion we reached, by the Light of the sun?
The great work of Physics is barely begun!