Physics World Stories Podcast · Physics World

Painting the unseen: visualizing the quantum world

·1 hr 4 min·5 clips

In quantum Cheshire cats, a photon's polarization can exist in a different physical location than the photon itself.

This episode of the Physics World Stories Podcast features host Andrew Glester in conversation with artist and former scientist Felicity Inkpen. They explore the challenge of visualizing quantum mechanics and the personal journey of a scientist who transitioned to a full-time artist. The discussion later includes Physics World features editor Tushna Komisariat, who commissioned Inkpen's work for the Quantum Briefing. Inkpen describes creating the cover art, titled "Qubits Duality," by experimenting with expired printer cartridges, water, and a sugar solution in an oven dish lit from below. She explains her lifelong number-color synesthesia, where she perceives numbers like 32 as a mix of green, pink, yellow, and blue. Her first major painting, "Synaesthesia Counting by Numbers," depicted the numbers 1 to 1024 in their associated colors. Komisariat details the Quantum Briefing's three sections: Quantum History, Quantum Mystery, and Quantum Industry, highlighting a feature on the island of Helgoland where Werner Heisenberg developed key quantum ideas. A surprising historical insight is the story of early quantum physicist and philosopher Grete Hermann, who challenged John von Neumann's proofs and proposed ideas about quantum causality that are largely overlooked today. The episode notes that Niels Bohr once proposed an idea about quantum mechanics that was quickly proven wrong, detailed in a feature titled "When Bohr Got It Wrong." Inkpen shares that her artistic process often involves a sense of the work already existing, with her merely channeling it, as she felt with her synesthesia painting. She also discusses drawing "dæmons"—soul animals from Philip Pullman's *His Dark Materials*—for people online, a project she began during the 2020 lockdowns. Inkpen reflects on how the character of quantum physicist-turned-neuroscientist Dr. Mary Malone from the series personally inspired her career path. The tone is conversational, reflective, and infused with a sense of wonder about both art and science. Listeners interested in the intersection of creativity and physics, or those curious about neurodiversity and perception, will find this episode engaging. Individuals seeking a highly technical or purely historical analysis of quantum mechanics might find the personal narrative focus less aligned with their interests.

As heard by us

A thoughtful conversation about quantum art, leaving academia, and how characters can help people imagine themselves differently.

Physics World Stories starts with a quantum cover image and uses it to open a broader discussion about how science can feel vivid and personal.

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Why you'd press play

You want quantum physics explained through art and story, not a textbook.

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