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WHAT IS REAL?

THE UNFINISHED QUEST FOR THE MEANING OF QUANTUM PHYSICS

A useful introduction to the history of quantum theory for scientifically inclined readers.

A historical exploration of quantum physics, which “predicts a stunning variety of phenomena to an extraordinary degree of accuracy.”

The realm of quantum physics is extremely difficult to comprehend. According to Niels Bohr’s “Copenhagen interpretation,” largely devised in the 1920s, subatomic particles have no definite properties until they are measured. One can only calculate the probability of a certain result—for example, the location of an electron—and the very act of measurement changes matters. In his first book, astrophysicist and science writer Becker agrees with a minority of physicists that quantum physics needs a better interpretation “because it’s not immediately clear what the theory is saying about the world. The mathematics of quantum physics is unfamiliar and abstruse, and the connection between the mathematics and the world we live in is hard to see.” Until his death, Einstein insisted that this bizarre picture couldn’t be correct, but most colleagues disagreed. Becker summarizes the debate and then takes up the cudgel. Einstein’s objections never caught on, but successors have had some success. David Bohm and Hugh Everett maintained that particles have specific properties and locations, but they also introduced complex concepts such as nonlocality, hidden variables, and a many-worlds view. The leading genius was John Bell, whose 1964 theorem postulates certain phenomena that violate traditional quantum theory. Subsequent extremely delicate experiments proved him right. Quantum physics works, so most physicists don’t concern themselves with its view of reality, and the debate rarely reaches popular media. It’s a philosophical question whose major figures are not household names and whose arguments do not simplify matters. The author works diligently to introduce them to a lay audience. Readers must put in the effort, but those who persist will come away with a taste of a basic scientific issue that a century of controversy has yet to resolve.

A useful introduction to the history of quantum theory for scientifically inclined readers.

Pub Date: March 20, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-465-09605-3

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Basic Books

Review Posted Online: Jan. 7, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018

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A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING

Loads of good explaining, with reminders, time and again, of how much remains unknown, neatly putting the death of science...

Bryson (I'm a Stranger Here Myself, 1999, etc.), a man who knows how to track down an explanation and make it confess, asks the hard questions of science—e.g., how did things get to be the way they are?—and, when possible, provides answers.

As he once went about making English intelligible, Bryson now attempts the same with the great moments of science, both the ideas themselves and their genesis, to resounding success. Piqued by his own ignorance on these matters, he’s egged on even more so by the people who’ve figured out—or think they’ve figured out—such things as what is in the center of the Earth. So he goes exploring, in the library and in company with scientists at work today, to get a grip on a range of topics from subatomic particles to cosmology. The aim is to deliver reports on these subjects in terms anyone can understand, and for the most part, it works. The most difficult is the nonintuitive material—time as part of space, say, or proteins inventing themselves spontaneously, without direction—and the quantum leaps unusual minds have made: as J.B.S. Haldane once put it, “The universe is not only queerer than we suppose; it is queerer than we can suppose.” Mostly, though, Bryson renders clear the evolution of continental drift, atomic structure, singularity, the extinction of the dinosaur, and a mighty host of other subjects in self-contained chapters that can be taken at a bite, rather than read wholesale. He delivers the human-interest angle on the scientists, and he keeps the reader laughing and willing to forge ahead, even over their heads: the human body, for instance, harboring enough energy “to explode with the force of thirty very large hydrogen bombs, assuming you knew how to liberate it and really wished to make a point.”

Loads of good explaining, with reminders, time and again, of how much remains unknown, neatly putting the death of science into perspective.

Pub Date: May 6, 2003

ISBN: 0-7679-0817-1

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Broadway

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003

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LETTERS FROM AN ASTROPHYSICIST

A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.

Tyson (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, 2017, etc.) receives a great deal of mail, and this slim volume collects his responses and other scraps of writing.

The prolific science commentator and bestselling author, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, delivers few surprises and much admirable commentary. Readers may suspect that most of these letters date from the author’s earlier years when, a newly minted celebrity, he still thrilled that many of his audience were pouring out their hearts. Consequently, unlike more hardened colleagues, he sought to address their concerns. As years passed, suspecting that many had no interest in tapping his expertise or entering into an intelligent give and take, he undoubtedly made greater use of the waste basket. Tyson eschews pure fan letters, but many of these selections are full of compliments as a prelude to asking advice, pointing out mistakes, proclaiming opposing beliefs, or denouncing him. Readers will also encounter some earnest op-ed pieces and his eyewitness account of 9/11. “I consider myself emotionally strong,” he writes. “What I bore witness to, however, was especially upsetting, with indelible images of horror that will not soon leave my mind.” To crackpots, he gently repeats facts that almost everyone except crackpots accept. Those who have seen ghosts, dead relatives, and Bigfoot learn that eyewitness accounts are often unreliable. Tyson points out that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, so confirmation that a light in the sky represents an alien spacecraft requires more than a photograph. Again and again he defends “science,” and his criteria—observation, repeatable experiments, honest discourse, peer review—are not controversial but will remain easy for zealots to dismiss. Among the instances of “hate mail” and “science deniers,” the author also discusses philosophy, parenting, and schooling.

A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.

Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-324-00331-1

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019

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