Particles & quantum

Landmark particle and quantum physics experiments, and where they meet biology and medicine. Disputed claims are flagged. Each topic lists only known properties from the cited papers.

• Bird magnetic sense (cryptochrome)
  2 studies · Migrating birds sense Earth's magnetic field, likely through a light-sensitive protein in their eyes.
• Discovering the electron and the atomic nucleus
  3 studies · Landmark experiments at the turn of the 20th century revealed the electron and the tiny, dense nucleus of the atom.
• Electron microscopy and cryo-EM
  2 studies · Microscopes that use electrons instead of light; frozen-sample cryo-EM now reveals biomolecules near atomic detail.
• Muon tomography (pyramids)
  2 studies · Cosmic-ray muons pass partly through stone, letting scientists x-ray huge structures.
• Neutron, positron (antimatter) and neutrinos
  4 studies · Discoveries of the neutron, the first antimatter particle and the elusive neutrino.
• Photoelectric effect and wave–particle duality
  4 studies · Light behaves as particles, and electrons behave as waves.
• Proton and particle beam therapy
  2 studies · Cancer treatment with beams of protons or heavier ions.
• Quantum biology (photosynthesis, enzyme tunneling)
  4 studies · Whether living things use quantum effects. Enzyme hydrogen tunneling is well supported; long-lived quantum coherence in photosynthesis is disputed.
• Quantum entanglement and Bell tests
  2 studies · Experiments showing that entangled particles are correlated in ways no local-realist theory can explain.
• Quantum tunneling
  2 studies · Particles can pass through barriers they classically could not cross, explaining radioactive decay and enabling atom-imaging microscopes.
• Quarks and the Higgs boson
  3 studies · Electron scattering revealed structure inside protons, and the LHC found the Higgs boson in 2012.
• Synchrotron light sources
  1 studies · Particle accelerators that make extremely bright X-rays for studying materials and molecules.