Sherlock Holmes and the Paradol Chamber: A Quantum Physics Mystery
by Bret Jones James E. Steck and Elizabeth C. Behrman
Jim Steck is a professor of Aerospace Engineering at Wichita State University (Kansas) as well as a huge fan of Sherlock. Along with Elizabeth Behrman, professor of Math and Physics, he has been doing research to build computers using the physics of quantum mechanics. Recently, while working on quantum artificial intelligence, they developed a plot idea, based on a paradox of quantum physics, for the character Sherlock Holmes. Bret Jones, a professor in the theater department has developed this idea into a screenplay, that is now a novel.
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The story involves a modern day Sherlock Holmes who solves a case where the villian uses a quantum paradox to endanger and hold high British government officials hostage. The case is called “The Paradol Chamber” a name that Sir Conan Doyle mentions in passing in one of his classic stories.
The paradox is based on “Schrödinger's Cat”, a thought experiment first proposed by the Physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. In the paradox, a cat is placed in an opaque box with a radioactive element and a vial of poison. The radioactive element has a 50% probability of decaying sometime within a one day period. If the element decays, the vial of poison breaks and the cat dies. According to quantum physics, until the box is opened, the cat exists as both alive and dead at the same time.
Sherlock Holmes and the Paradol Chamber: A Quantum Physics Mystery
Three Holmes brothers. Three chambers. Twenty-seven hours until quantum collapse.
Someone is using Schrödinger's Cat quantum physics paradox as a blueprint for murder.
When Sherlock Holmes’ brother Mycroft vanishes in broad daylight, Sherlock discovers
a clue that leads to an impossible paradox. Three government officials have been kidnapped
and sealed in "paradol chambers" that hold their victims in quantum superposition, existing in a nebulous state between life and death.
As the countdown ticks toward zero and the kidnapper leaves clues, Sherlock must confront a past he thought he'd buried.
As the deadline approaches, Sherlock races to solve the quantum paradox, rescue the
hostages, stop a quantum heist that will cripple the government, and face a family
trauma that created a monster.
The solution requires something Holmes has never been good at—chaos, creativity, and
an unescapable human element that no intelligence, artificial or otherwise, can predict.
Because in quantum mechanics, observation changes everything.
And some family wounds never truly heal—they just wait in superposition until someone
finally looks.
To request a complete copy of the screenplay email james.steck@wichita.edu