Quantum entanglement really is "spooky action at a distance.

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(Image credit: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images)

Jump to:
 Who discovered quantum entanglement?
 What is the EPR paradox?
 How do you entangle particles?
 What is it used for?
 What is quantum entanglement teleportation?
Quantum entanglement is one of the uber-bizarre phenomena seen when things get itty-bitty, or
inside the quantum realm. When two or more particles link up in a certain way, no matter how
far apart they are in space, their states remain linked. That means they share a common, unified
quantum state. So observations of one of the particles can automatically provide information
about the other entangled particles, regardless of the distance between them. And any action to
one of these particles will invariably impact the others in the entangled system.

WHO DISCOVERED QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT?

Physicists developed the fundamental ideas behind entanglement as they worked out the
mechanics of the quantum world in the early decades of the 20th century. They found that to
properly describe subatomic systems, they had to use something called a quantum state.

In the quantum world, nothing is ever known for certain; for example, you never know exactly
where an electron in an atom is located, only where it might be. A quantum state summarizes the
probability of measuring a certain property of a particle, like its position or angular momentum.
So, for example, the quantum state of an electron describes all the places you might find it,
together with the probabilities of finding the electron at those places.