The Phrase "Quantum Leap"

[mabfan]

A newspaper ad I saw this morning that used the phrase "quantum leap" to promote the company's new technology got me wondering about the origins of the flawed metaphorical meaning.

My background is in Physics, and in the world of science a "quantum leap" or "quantum jump" has a very specific meaning, in which an atom transitions from one energy state to another. The higher states take less energy to achieve, so in science a quantum leap is one that becomes less and less significant. I've always been amused (and bothered, I'll admit) that the metaphorical phrase has come to mean a very large advance, no matter what.

So I just checked the online Oxford English Dictionary, and found their earliest citation for the metaphorical meaning:

1956 H. L. Roberts Russia & Amer. i. 10 The enormous multiplication of power, the ‘quantum leap’ to a new order of magnitude of destruction, is something very real and comprehensible.

It may have been used before, but as far as the OED is concerned, the guilty party is one H.R. Roberts, who wrote a book called "Russia and America" that was published in 1956. However, a quick Google search turns up nothing significant about Mr. or Ms. Roberts.

Anyone know where I can find more?

(By the way, for those interested, the OED's official definition of "quantum leap" in its metaphorical meaning is "A sudden, significant, or very evident (usually large) increase or advance.")

Comments

[ckd]

"Quantum leap: to a marketer, the largest change imaginable; to a physicist, the smallest change possible. These are not necessarily contradictory."

(Not sure of the wording, and I wish I could remember the source....)

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

While it does not cover the phrase "Quantum Leap" alone, the term quantum is described at my favorite etymological site, here. It eventually gets around to discussing quantum leap.

While I understand the physicists desire to think that all things were invented by physicists, (LOL), a sudden change in quantity can be characterized as a quantum leap.

I prefer the term linear discontinuity. :-)

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

But it would appear from the OED that the phrase "quantum leap" does not predate the term "quantum jump" in physics, leading me to suspect that its development as a metaphor was rooted in its use in physics.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

From the too-little information I gleaned, it is not clear if the previous uses of quantum are the primary antecedent, or if the physics version is, or if the physics version revived the interest in the term quantum.

Still, fun to think about.

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Oh, boy.

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of a conversation I once had with a chemist about "volatile".