Philosophical Physics: From Einstein to Ideas by Atharrv

Philosophical Physics: From Einstein to Ideas by Atharrv - July 2026 Scholarship Essay

Learning about Quantum Mechanics and Relativity in Physics really baffled me at first. Many of the things learned in class didn’t make sense. For example, I just couldn’t wrap my head around time dilation. Doesn’t time move at a constant speed? But I knew just complaining wouldn’t do anything. I had to complete the challenge.

In order to understand Quantum Mechanics and Relativity, I tried to actually comprehend what causes Quantum Mechanics and Relativity to work instead of just memorizing lines from a textbook, I had to actually understand what I read. I had to understand the reasons behind science.

Being a visual learner, I was used to picturing things in my mind. In Math, I would picture the numbers in my head. In ELA, I would picture what I have to write in my head before actually writing it down. So why couldn’t I do the same thing in science? Instead of picturing lines from a textbook, why couldn’t I picture a simulation of what happens in real life?

Using this tactic, I slowly started understanding more of quantum mechanics. Instead of remembering memorized lines during a test, I would think about what would happen in real life in my head, like a mental simulation. Because of this tactic, I was beginning to understand what would happen in the real world, and ultimately, I was beginning to understand Quantum Mechanics and Relativity. For example, the concept of light taking time to travel distance didn’t make sense to me at first. However, I started visualizing how a light particle would move through space, and understood why it would take time, thus being able to connect that to the concept of light-years.

Pretty soon, it became normal for me to visualize things in my head. When I saw a question on the test, I would ponder upon it and visualize it in my head before answering it, even if I knew the answer. Slowly, I began using this method in all of my classes, across all subjects. When I was asked a riddle or anything that involved critical thinking, I would use this visualization skill to visualize all different possible outcomes and to think outside the box. Eventually, I became so good at this visualization technique that I would be able to visualize and understand things in seconds. Using this technique has helped me a lot in school and in life.

Physics, particularly Quantum Mechanics and Relativity, was an academic topic that challenged me for months, and in the process of learning it, I learned a valuable visualization technique, which ultimately strengthened my critical thinking skills.