Overview of Quantum Refuge (Radiolab — WNYC Studios)
This Radiolab episode centers on Qasem Waleed, a 28-year-old physicist from Gaza who survived repeated bombardment, displacement, and loss. Qasem has been writing and posting essays and videos describing life under siege — but his voice is distinctive: he uses quantum physics concepts (superposition, tunneling, Schrödinger’s cat, quantum harmonic oscillator) as metaphors and refuge to explain his daily reality. The episode weaves Qasem’s personal story, his intellectual formation (study of physics at the Islamic University of Gaza, mentorship under Dr. Sufjan Taya), the violence that upended his life, and how quantum ideas helped him survive and communicate.
Timeline & context
- Qasem grew up in Gaza, inspired by stargazing and his father (an engineer with deep interest in physics).
- He studied physics at the Islamic University of Gaza; Dr. Sufjan Taya was a key mentor who introduced him to quantum ideas.
- The transcript recounts the October attack (referred to Oct 7) and the subsequent Israeli bombardment and mass displacement; Qasem spends months living in tent camps, struggling for food, internet and safety.
- Qasem began publishing poems and essays (notably "I Am Stuck in a Box Like Schrödinger's in Gaza," published on Al Jazeera Dec 19, 2024) that mix reportage and quantum metaphor.
- The episode includes an interview recorded Oct 16, 2025, days after a ceasefire; Qasem describes continuing constraints, fear, and scarcity.
- Producers note the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for advances in quantum tunneling — a concept central to Qasem’s metaphors.
Main themes and takeaways
- Physics as refuge: Qasem uses physics not just intellectually but emotionally — the discipline becomes a private refuge, a framework for understanding and articulating trauma.
- Quantum metaphors map to lived experience:
- Superposition = living in uncertainty between life and death; being simultaneously alive and at imminent risk.
- Schrödinger’s cat = Gaza as a sealed box whose occupants’ fates are known by some but not verified by the world; Qasem identifies with the cat.
- Quantum tunneling = imagining emotional or spiritual escapes across barriers that are physically imposed (borders, sieges).
- Communicating catastrophe: complex scientific language can illuminate experience for some audiences, offering fresh empathy and urgency; for others, it risks confusing readers — but for Qasem, it’s authentic because he “sees everything from” physics.
- The human cost of blockade and war: the episode documents food scarcity, lack of shelter, loss of mentors and family, inability to get medical care, and the fragility of any ceasefire.
Key moments from the interview
- Opening scene: Qasem calls from a café near a tent camp; sound of warplanes/background bombardment punctuates his account.
- Origin story: rooftop stargazing at 14 sparked curiosity; his father and Dr. Taya nurtured that interest.
- Dr. Taya’s death: Qasem recounts seeing the post announcing his professor’s killing after a strike.
- Publishing work: Qasem shifted from private study to public writing in 2024 to “speak loud” about Gaza; many essays invoke quantum ideas to convey the surreal nature of living under siege.
- Schrodinger’s cat essay: Qasem describes himself and Gaza as trapped inside a box whose contents (alive/dead) the outside world refuses to fully observe or act on.
- Post-ceasefire reality (Oct 2025): The ceasefire’s immediate effect is quiet, not safety — threats, limited access to home, electricity, and supplies continue.
Quantum concepts Qasem uses (plain-language explanations)
- Superposition: In quantum physics, particles can exist in multiple possible states at once until they’re measured; Qasem uses this to describe being both alive and at death’s door, uncertainty that lingers until some external action “measures” the outcome.
- Collapse / measurement: Observing a quantum system forces it into one definite state; metaphorically, outside attention or intervention would “collapse” Gaza’s uncertain fate into a known outcome.
- Schrödinger’s cat: A thought experiment where a cat in a sealed box is tied to a quantum event so it’s theoretically both alive and dead until observed — Qasem uses it to dramatize life inside siege conditions.
- Quantum tunneling: Particles sometimes get through barriers they seemingly shouldn’t — Qasem imagines emotional/spiritual tunneling, the idea of escaping imposed borders even if physically impossible.
- Quantum harmonic oscillator & ladder operators: Qasem borrows technical imagery to describe moving between energy (or life) states, e.g., water enabling movement from lower to higher states as an analogy for relief enabling survival.
Notable quotes and lines
- “I am stuck in a box like Schrödinger’s in Gaza.”
- “I am the cat and I am the cat… everything in life seems to follow a certain binary system… but I’m no longer part of this binary of life and being.”
- “When you study something, you just live by it… If you are a physicist, you start seeing everything from its perspective.”
- “If you can’t offer me a refuge, then I’m lucky to have this while two million in Gaza suffer on a daily basis.” (Qasem describing physics as a safe zone)
- “Please open the box.” (A plea to the outside world to intervene, so outcomes stop being unknowable.)
Why this matters / What listeners should take away
- Metaphor as testimony: Scientific metaphors can be a powerful means to translate extreme human experience into forms that may reach different audiences.
- Humanizing conflict: The episode focuses on an individual’s inner life — a scientist’s grief, resilience and imaginative survival — giving a textured human face to statistics and headlines.
- Urgency beyond headlines: Even after ceasefires, material needs and risks persist; the episode underscores how fragile any peace can be on the ground.
- The ethics of observation: The Schrödinger metaphor interrogates the moral responsibility of outside observers — merely knowing about suffering without effective action leaves people “unmeasured” and at risk.
Further reading & resources (from the episode)
- Qasem’s full essay: “I Am Stuck in a Box Like Schrödinger's in Gaza” — published on Al Jazeera (Dec 19, 2024). (The episode’s show notes link to this.)
- Radiolab bonus: conversation with MIT physicist Alan Adams on quantum effects in biological systems (available to Radiolab members).
- Production credits: hosted by Lulu Miller; produced by Jessica Young; edited by Alex Deason. The episode references the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for advances in quantum tunneling.
Final note
This Radiolab piece uses science not to obfuscate but to create a fresh language for trauma: a physicist in Gaza borrows his discipline’s strangest concepts to both survive mentally and demand that the world “open the box” — to see, to measure, and to act.