What does it mean for a particle to be in two places at once, and why should a chemist care? This course will explore two of the most counterintuitive and consequential ideas in modern science: quantum mechanics and nuclear chemistry. We will examine wave-particle duality, wavefunctions, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, and Schrödinger’s famous cat—not as abstract puzzles but as the foundation of how atoms actually behave. We will then turn to the nucleus itself: fission, fusion, radioactive decay, carbon dating, and the long shadow of the Manhattan Project. From Hiroshima to Chernobyl to today’s energy debates, nuclear science has never been just science.
John Hendrickson is a teaching professor in the School of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University. He holds a doctorate in Chemistry and is the author of the textbook Chemistry in the World. His academic work focuses on science communication—the reciprocal relationship between science and society.
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