Most Beautiful Experiment in Physics

An anonymous reader writes "Robert P. Crease has concluded his poll asking what the most beautiful experiment in physics is. The winner was Young's double slit experiment performed using a single electron. Attentive readers will remember that Slashdot had a discussion of Crease's question previously, which Crease mentions in his current article." If you're unfamiliar with the experiment, Google pulls up a bunch of applets and demonstrations.

Comments

Simple != Simple

[MosesJones]

The beauty of this experiment is not just the effect that it generates but the way it simply demonstrates a complex phenomena. By complex I mean that it demonstrates that light travels as waves, until you fire only 1 photon then you prove it travels as particles as well.

Simple, brilliant and something that the more you learn about physics the more you learn about what the experiment shows.

physics makes me gaga

[RestiffBard]

i have to say that physics, especially on the quantumn level, is the most interesting science I know of. there are others that are fascinating but nothing gets to the heart of everything like physics. can i get an amen? :) the slit experiment, when I first read about it in some layman's guide to physics just floored me with its simplicity and easy understandability.

eddington

[sstory]

The double slit is great. I might vote for the 1919 experiment of Eddington, which verified General Relativity, showing that the mass of the sun bent the path of light. A sweet verification.

just a simple physics student's comment.

Re:fp?

[larry bagina]

seriously. Where else but slashdot would a bunch of teenagers discuss "double slits" and "creases" and not be thinking of girls?