EXHIBITIONS

Highlights of the Collection

June 13, 2015 – June 27, 2015
SVA Gallery, New York

This exhibition features parts of Museum’s collection from three of the most famous thought experiments:  Schrodinger’s Cat, Twin Paradox and Infinite Monkey Theorem.

Schrödinger's Cat is a thought experiment devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961) in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The experiment presents a cat that may be both alive and dead, depending on an earlier random event.

Twin Paradox was proposed by Albert Einstein in his famous work on special relativity, he predicted that “If we have identical twins and one makes a journey into space in a high-speed rocket and returns home, he will find that the twin who remained on Earth has aged more.” NASA recruited an astronaut who is one of the twins and sent him into space for more than 30 years to demonstrate Einstein’s theory.

The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare. One of the earliest known instances of the use of the "monkey metaphor" was by French mathematician Émile Borel (1871-1956) and the British mathematician Arthur Eddington (1822-1944) in 1913.


Organized by Bonnie Yochelson

Related Events

Past
VIP Reception
Thursday, June 18, 2015, 5 p.m.

Installation Shot

Exhibition Objects

Picture
Geiger Counter
Date: 1934
Creator: Erwin Schrödinger
Medium: Mixed media
Dimensions: 8.5 x 7 x 2 inches
Picture
Pierre Cardin's sketches
Date: 1978
Creator: Pierre Cardin (French, 1922-)
Medium: Paper
Dimension: 10×12 1/2 inches
Picture
Tom Thumb toy typewriter
Date: 1965
Creator: Western Stamping corporation
Medium: Typewriter
Dimension: 10 1/2×10×6 inches

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