Discovered in the late 1920s by Paul Dirac (1902-1984), Andrea Galvani’s Antimatter sculpture brings together two of the most important ideas in science: quantum mechanics and Einstein’s special theory of relativity. Dirac’s equation describes how things that are very small and very fast (in this case, an electron traveling close to the speed of light) behave. It was the first step towards quantum field theory, combining elegant mathematics with profound physical consequences. Most dramatically, this equation predicted the existence of antimatter, the mirror-image of all known particles.

Dirac’s original intention was to come up with a proper relativistic quantum equation for electrons. He did, and it earned him the Nobel Prize in 1933, but the consequences were more far-reaching than anyone could have dreamed. His equations yield two possible solutions to the problem: one for an electron with positive energy, one for an electron with negative energy; an unanticipated result. Dirac argued that this anomaly was the electron’s “antiparticle,” and that every particle has one—nearly identical except for an opposite charge. Moreover, Dirac speculated that there may be an entire Universe of this mysterious “antimatter.”