Quantum legacies : dispatches from an uncertain world / David Kaiser ; with a foreword by Alan Lightman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kaiser, David, author.

Contributor:

Lightman, Alan, writer of foreword.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Physics--History.

Physics.

Quantum theory.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Chicago, Illinois : University of Chicago Press, 2020.

Summary:

"Physicists have grappled with quantum theory for over a century. They have learned to wring precise answers from the theory's governing equations, and no experiment to date has found compelling evidence to contradict it. Even so, the conceptual apparatus remains stubbornly, famously bizarre. Physicists have tackled these conceptual uncertainties while navigating still larger ones: the rise of fascism, cataclysmic world wars and a new nuclear age, an unsteady Cold War stand-off and its unexpected end. Quantum Legacies introduces readers to physics' still-unfolding quest by treating iconic moments of discovery and debate among well-known figures like Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, and Stephen Hawking, and many others whose contributions have indelibly shaped our understanding of nature"--

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Introduction

QUANTA

1. All Quantum, No Solace

2. Life-and- Death

3. Operation: Neutrino

4. Quantum Theory by Starlight

CALCULATING

5. From Blackboards to Bombs

6. Boiling Electrons

7. Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

8. Training Quantum Mechanics

9. Zen and the Art of Textbook Publishing

MATTER

10. Pipe Dreams

11. Something for Nothing

12. Higgs Hunting

13. When Fields Collide

COSMOS

14. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

15. Gaga for Gravitation

16. The Other Evolution Wars

17. No More Lonely Hearts

18. Learning from Gravitational Waves

19. A Farewell to Stephen Hawking

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABBREVIATIONS

NOTES

INDEX

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-226-69819-X

OCLC:

1145548000