A street in Belfast is to be named after the late John Stewart Bell, a quantum physicist whose work has had a huge impact on modern physics and quantum information theory. Bell passed away in 1990, before he could be awarded a Nobel prize for his work, and Belfast Council have agreed to name a street in his honour.

However, in an awesome twist (since they avoid naming streets after people’s full names) rather than calling it ‘John Bell Way’, it’s going to be called ‘Bell’s Theorem Way’, after his most famous work. That’s nice!

The theorem, which relates to the distinction between quantum mechanics and classical mechanics, states:

“No physical theory of local hidden variables can ever reproduce all of the predictions of quantum mechanics.”

Presumably the first corollary of Bell’s Theorem will now be, ‘no left turn onto Queens Road’. The decision to name the street will be made at the next council meeting.

More Information

Belfast street to be named after John Stewart Bell, at BBC News

Bell’s Theorem, on Wikipedia

via Simon Singh on Twitter