Casimir pressure

Casimir pressure is created by the Casimir force of virtual particles. Casimir force is the physical force that arises from a quantized field. I don't know what that means.

Wikipedia says that Casimir pressure can be associated with the density of the zero point energy of empty space, which some scientists believe is what is causing the accelerated expansion of the universe. This sounds very important.

In some ways, this makes me think that Casimir pressure is more significant than Jeff Feagles. But in other ways, I feel like Jeff Feagles is more significant than Casimir pressure.

This got me thinking about another question. Which is more significant, Casimir pressure or Hendrik Casimir, the man who discovered it? You and I might say Casimir pressure. But Hendrik's wife Josina might say Hendrik. And their children might say Josina. And I might say Chinese food.

Hendrik Casimir died in May of 2000, which means he never saw American Idol.


According to quantum mechanics, giant books can eat girls.
Photo: travestyalpha via Flickr (CC)