Our Subatomic Quantum World
The year 2025 is the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, recognizing 100 years since the initial development of quantum mechanics. You can learn more about modern quantum science here, with resources developed by nuclear physicists, graphic designers and animators at Jefferson Lab, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Sputnik Animation. Explore animations of the particles and forces that dominate the quantum world, and delve deep into the history of the visualization of the structure of matter.
Visualizing the Proton
MIT Physics professor Richard Milner, physicist Rolf Ent at Jefferson Lab, video artists Chris Boebel and Joe McMaster at MIT, and animator James LaPlante of Sputnik Animation have taken inspiration from the colorized Hubble images of the large-scale structure of the universe from original black-and-white exposures to depict the subatomic world in a new way with an innovative animation that conveys the current understanding of the structure of the proton in terms of its fundamental constituents.
Released in late 2024, MIT Physics professor Richard Milner, Jefferson Lab physicist Rolf Ent, and animator James LaPlante of Sputnik Animation continued the exploration of what modern nuclear physics data can show us about the quantum world. In this next video, explore how protons and neutrons combine to give rise to nuclei and how their interactions modify the nucleus and its characteristics.
Visualizing the Nucleus
In the early 20th century, scientists solved many of the mysteries of the modern atom, revealing its protons and neutrons, and even the quarks and gluons buried deep inside. Nuclear physicists are working to better bring into focus this quantum world. Come along on an animated journey inside the nucleus to see what the latest data have revealed about how protons and neutrons, quarks and gluons build the cornerstone of our visible universe.
There's more to explore! Check out the Structure of Matter Throughout History online exhibit and see what nuclear physicists have learned about different nuclei in the Animations of Nuclei exhibit. For additional information or queries about this content, reach out to Rolf Ent.
One of the great quests throughout human history has been the effort over thousands of years to understand the structure of matter from the most fundamental constituents. This exhibit describes the long, historic line of models of the structure of matter. The exhibit is presented in nine posters that portray the different eras of visualization of the structure of matter.
Nuclear physicists study not only the particles that make up the nucleus, but also what these nuclei might look like, what size they may be, and how their constituents might be arranged. This exhibit presents 11 different animations of the nuclei of both common and rare elements. These elements have been studied by nuclear physicists, and each provides distinctive information about the subatomic world that gives rise to our visible universe. You're welcome to explore these nuclei and to compare and contrast their size, makeup and proton/neutron interactions.
