his name was hugh everett. >> hugh everett was a graduate student at princeton. and hugh everett, came along saying "well, what if we studied the whole universe as a quantum mechanical system, then we wouldn't have a system a an observer, we only have the system." so everett said we need to iderstand quantum mechani and of itself. and he realized that that implied the existence of many worlds. and, know, everett gotve treate badly. he got ridiculed. he was told he didn't understand quantum mechanics, and we figured this out 20 years ago, the whole bit. so he didn't even apply for a faculty job as a physicist. he left and worked in the defense industry. but we've learned a lot more about how quantum mechanics works since the 1950s. so in fact in my mind everything we've learned has made his case stronger. and we look at and say yes, i see the worlds, there they are. i see them in my math. telescopes or microscopes. >> reporter: so what does the math tell you about the universe? >> it tells us that the universa is an ab mathematical structure that evolves in a very