Everyone knows quantum mechanics is crazy and mysterious. What they don't know is that the history of it's discovery is just as odd as the theory. Physicists spent decades chasing strange clues about the atomic world before finally deciding they had to completely alter the way think about the universe. This unfamiliar road often led to self-doubt, and turmoil and disputes among some of the worlds most brilliant thinkers. This journey into the unfamiliar ultimately echoes the path we all take as we navigate the many opportunities and decisions that make up the story of our own lives.

Leonard Mlodinow is an award winning author and physicist holding a PhD in theoretical physics from UC/Berkeley. Mlodinow is the author of 9 books, five of them bestsellers: The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules out Lives, Subliminal: How our Unconscious Mind Rules our Behavior, The Grand Design and A Briefer History of Time both co-authored by Stephan Hawking, and War of the Worldviews written with Deepak Chopra. He also wrote for numerous television series, including Star Trek: The Next Generation and MacGyver.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx