When Einstein Got It Wrong: The EPR Paradox and Quantum Entanglement

Abstract

In 1935, Albert Einstein, along with Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen, published the EPR paper arguing that quantum mechanics was incomplete. Decades later, physicist John Bell and experimental scientists proved Einstein was wrong about "spooky action at a distance."

Introduction

Albert Einstein is known as one of the most outstanding scientists in history. He changed physics forever with his theories of relativity and made significant contributions to the development of quantum mechanics. However, even Einstein made mistakes. One of his most notable errors was the EPR paper, published in 1935, which raised questions about whether quantum mechanics could fully explain reality.

Background on the EPR Paper

In 1935, Einstein worked with two colleagues, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen, to write a paper called "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?" This became known as the EPR paper, using the first letters of their last names. The scientists argued that quantum mechanics was incomplete because it suggested something Einstein found impossible to believe: that two particles could instantaneously affect each other, even when separated by huge distances. Einstein called this "spooky action at a distance" and insisted it couldn't be real.

Einstein believed that particles must have hidden properties that we had not yet discovered. He thought these hidden variables would eventually explain quantum behavior without requiring the strange instantaneous connections that quantum mechanics predicted.

Who Proved Einstein Wrong?

Other scientists disagreed with Einstein. They believed in the rules of quantum mechanics, which said the particles were truly linked in a weird, instantaneous way.

So, who was right? In 1964, physicist John Bell created a kind of game, a mathematical theorem, to settle the argument once and for all.

Here's how his idea worked:

• Bell said, if Einstein was correct and there was a secret rulebook, then when scientists ran experiments, the results would always stay within a specific limit. It would be like flipping two coins that are secretly rigged—they'd never both land on heads too many times in a row.
• But if quantum mechanics were correct, the results would be much wilder and unpredictable. Those connected particles would break the limit, like two coins that somehow keep matching each other in a way that's impossible for regular, separate coins.

In short, Bell didn't run the experiment himself, but he gave scientists a simple rule to check: "If you see this result, Einstein wins. If you see that result, quantum mechanics wins."

When scientists finally conducted the experiments, the results were precise: the particles had broken the limit. They were acting in that "spooky" way that quantum mechanics had predicted all along. So, thanks to John Bell's brilliant game plan, we learned that Einstein's hidden rulebook probably doesn't exist.

The Experimental Proof

During the 1970s and 1980s, several Aspect's conducted experiments to test Bell's theorem. French physicist Alain Aspect performed the most famous experiments in 1982. Aspect's team measured entangled photons (light particles) and found that quantum mechanics was correct. The electrons did indeed influence each other instantly across distances, as quantum theory had predicted. Einstein's hidden variables didn't exist.

Aspect eventually won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2022 for this work, along with John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger, who also performed essential experiments that demonstrated the genuineness of quantum entanglement.

Einstein's Reaction

Einstein, however, never got to see this scientific showdown. He had passed away in 1955, almost ten years before Bell published his theorem. This is a shame, because Einstein was the most famous skeptic of quantum mechanics for his entire life. He firmly believed the universe operated on strict, predictable laws, not on the random chance that quantum mechanics suggested. He famously expressed his frustration in a letter to his colleague, Max Born, writing, "God does not play dice with the universe." We can only speculate how he would have reacted to the experiments that ultimately proved his own hidden variables theory to be incorrect.

Other Challenged Ideas

The universe's not wrong only about the EPR paradox. In 1917, he introduced a "cosmological constant" to his equations to maintain the universe's static state, as he believed the universe was unchanging. When astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered the universe was expanding, Einstein called the cosmological constant his "biggest blunder." Scientists later started to warm up to the idea that a cosmological constant might actually exist in the form of dark energy, so Einstein may have been partially right after all.

Conclusion

Einstein's mistake with the EPR paper teaches us that scientific progress requires questioning everything, even ideas from brilliant scientists. Experiments demonstrating the reality of Einstein's entanglement have led to the development of exciting new technologies, including quantum computers and quantum encryption. Einstein's error ultimately helped science move forward by inspiring scientists to test and prove the strange but true nature of quantum mechanics.

Credit where due:

https://www.theraphustle.com/group/university-of-g-a-m-e/discussion/a5a70ec4-f30cCantor's4b-cbbc8ac4aa98

https://www.futurimmediat.net/news/einsteinpodolskyrosen-paradox-challenges-the-completeness-of-quantum-by-areeba-merriam-oct-2023-cantors-paradise

https://prod.lsa.umich.edu/lsa/news-events/all-news/search-news/the-expanding-universe.html

© 2025 Tim Jackson. All Rights Reserved.