Synopses & Reviews
Do we live in one of many parallel worlds, with near-identical versions of ourselves spread across the multiverse? Is a "quantum leap" unthinkably massive or subatomically small? The language and the imagery of quantum mechanics are ubiquitous, yet the science--and its journey into everyday language--still confounds us. In , Robert P. Crease and Alfred Scharff Goldhaber tell how a controversial idea from an obscure branch of optics grew in complexity and authority, eventually dominating the scientific community and commanding the attention of the culture at large. Recounting fiery disputes between figures including Einstein, Schrödinger, and Pauli, the authors trace popular images--time travel, parallel worlds, random behavior--back to their scientific roots and uncover modern manifestations in everything from architecture and sculpture to the prose of John Updike. combines an exhilarating history of the quantum with shrewd insight into our experience of the everyday.
Review
"A fascinating tour of the lives and afterlives of some of the most captivating concepts of quantum theory." David Kaiser, author of How the Hippies Saved Physics
Review
"A delight! A tour de force that is both illuminating and extraordinarily readable." Gino Segrè, author of Ordinary Geniuses: How Two Mavericks Shaped Modern Science
Review
"This is an amazing book for scientists and humanists alike! Every page yields surprises--not only about the complex history of quantum physics but about how it impacts our understanding of ourselves in daily life. Required reading for anyone concerned with casting the fate of humankind in a radically new light." Edward S. Casey, author of The World at a Glance
Review
"Reading is a very fun way to learn about where quantum physics comes from and the strange, even astonishing places it has gone with or without the physicists for whom it is the language of their craft." Peter Galison, author of Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps, professor of science and physics, Harvard University
Review
"Fascinating... Crease and Goldhaber have written an accessible and entertaining history that embraces both the science and the silliness of quantum mechanics." Publishers Weekly
Review
"An entertaining read." Jim Baggott
Review
"Rich and entertaining... [] is an introduction to the brave new world we inhabit." Amir Alexander
Synopsis
The fascinating story of how quantum mechanics went mainstream.
Synopsis
The discovery of the quantum--the idea, born in the early 1900s in a remote corner of physics, that energy comes in finite packets instead of infinitely divisible quantities--planted a rich set of metaphors in the popular imagination.
Video
About the Author
Robert P. Crease writes the "Critical Point" column for Physics World. He is the chairman of the Philosophy Department at Stony Brook University and lives in New York City. He is the author of, among other books, The Prism and the Pendulum, The Great Equations and World in the Balance.