Sushant Singh Rajput’s social media bio 'photon in a double-slit experiment' explained

Image: Instagram/@sushantsinghrajput

Just as we were surmising if the year 2020 could get any worse, Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, all of 34, was found hanging in his Bandra home. No suicide note was found in the ‘Kai Po Che’ actor’s home, but it was learnt that he was being treated for clinical depression for the past few months.

The preliminary post-mortem report has cited the cause of death as asphyxia due to hanging.

While the young talent’s untimely demise left thousands unnerved and grief-stricken, his fans could not help but wonder about his cryptic social media bio that reads: “Photon in a double-slit”.

The phrase “photon in a double-slit” appears to be a reference to the famous double-slit experiment first performed by Thomas Young, which is considered one of the most logic-defying observations in modern-day physics. The experiment demonstrates how when a photon passes through a double slit, it forms an interference pattern. Meaning, photon, which is the basic unit of light, can display characteristics of both waves and particles.

This is the scientific explanation of Sushant Singh Rajput’s Twitter and Instagram bio. However, one could argue that it hinted at the double lives we all live, or maybe the double life that the actor was leading, having dual personality traits, with one being his true self and the other the face he had to cut for the tinsel town. Maybe it was a hint at the grief that was gnawing at his heart while he put up a brave and happy face. Or it could just be reflective of the actor’s active interest in physics, the dark matter, space, and more, and we are reading too much into the lines. One would never know.

Rajput’s penchant for Physics was nothing unknown. Unlike other Bollywood actors, he would frequently engage with his fans on social media platforms to discuss science and achievements of the scientific community. The national-level Olympiad winner in Physics even dreamed of visiting the Large Hadron Collider at CERN – which finds multiple mentions in the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory – too.