Quantum mechanics is a challenging and mind-boggling field. It can be hard to visualize interactions at the subatomic level. Most of us are first educated in Newtonian Mechanics; we most easily understand cause and effect at this scale. This makes the world of quantum, with its “spooky action at a distance” and massless particles, hard to visualize and understand.

Philosophical Engineering

Richard Feynman was a mastermind when it came to visualizing a problem, regardless of its length scale. His ability to simplify atomic interactions through what are now called Feynman diagrams revolutionized the way one could visualize some concepts in quantum mechanics. The use of only lines (propagators) and vertices (events) gave the possibility of analyzing atomic phenomena such as electron, positron, and photon interactions and Coulombic forces in a easy way to visualize. Reading these diagrams is simple, as many physicists are aware of the collisions in classical mechanics and the pictorial concept is equivalent making these interactions easier to comprehend. Feynman shows us that sometimes, we need to take a step back from our work and simplify – even in pictures – to really understand.