The moniker “boys’ physics” (Knabenphysik) originally emphasized the youthfulness of the early quantum physics protagonists. Its gender connotation long remained unchallenged. This panel brings to light the remarkable yet long-overlooked contributions of women to the development of quantum physics.
The Women in the History of Quantum Physics (WiHQP) collaboration was founded in early 2021, in preparation for the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. We are an international team of historians, scientists, writers, and philosophers of science working to reconstruct and analyze the lives and contributions of dozens of women, including those who worked during the early days of the old quantum theory and later contributors to quantum field theory.
In celebration of the 2025 centennial of quantum mechanics, this panel will present a subset of narratives from our forthcoming anthology, Women in the History of Quantum Physics: Beyond Knabenphysik, (currently in press with Cambridge University Press). We aim to share the richness and diversity of scientific life that has grown from researching the quantum.
Over the past hundred years, physics has undergone a major revolution with the development of quantum mechanics. Unlike the theory of relativity, this development relied on the international collective effort of many researchers and quickly spread worldwide, inspiring significant further contributions in different countries and cultures. While the theory contained many puzzling features and generated considerable discontent and philosophical debate, quantum concepts penetrated many fields of scientific research, both in and beyond physics, irrevocably transforming the foundations of many disciplines and the scientific worldview writ large. New technologies and devices built on quantum principles and effects have fundamentally transformed human societies and some of the most essential aspects of daily life.
The Quantum Century Working Group aims to explore these historical changes – intellectual, technological, philosophical, cultural, and social – brought about by the development of quantum physics and complex interactions between theory, experiment, and various applications. One hundred years after it was constructed, quantum mechanics remains one of the central pillars of modern science and the source of life-changing innovations. It continues to answer previously unresolved problems and generate new puzzles, promoting research further into unexplored territories. We invite papers representing the variety of scientific and technological experiences associated with the quantum worldview and its development over the last century, reflecting the practices of science in wider social and intellectual contexts in different disciplines, geographies, and cultures.
