"A Rock is a Clock" introduces the quantum aspect of our weights and measures. 0:53 min

I try to convey the strange aspects of quantum physics with cinematic techniques to complement the scientific discussion with Holger Müller, professor of physics at UC Berkeley.

I think many physicists have visited Le Conte Hall. This was the first time I've visited the campus, although the Campanile was very familiar to me: an etching of the Campanile at UC Berkeley has been displayed in my family's dining room as long as I can remember. My father got his PhD in physics there in the late 1960s.

This short clip is the introduction to the film's sequence called "A Rock is a Clock," which is Holger M&uumlller's tagline for the concept of counting oscillations of an atom's matter wave, to make what he calls a Compton Clock. As the sequence continues, Holger explains that every mass has an associated frequency, and cites the insight of Louis de Broglie in combining the ideas of Albert Einstein and Max Planck.

Later in the film we continue de Broglie's story with a visit to his nephew at the family's chateau in Brittany.