Momentul cuantic

by Robert P. Crease, Alfred Scharff Goldhaber

De la multiversuri si salturi cuantice la pisica lui Schrodinger si calatoriile in timp, mecanica cuantica a influentat ireversibil imaginatia populara. Artisti si scriitori, John Updike, Lady Gaga sau David Foster Wallace, se folosesc de asocierile si de nuantele ei. Este „saltul cuantic“ mare sau mic? Cat de incert este principiul incertitudinii? Este acest baraj de vocabular cuantic pretentios si trasnit sau reprezinta o schimbare fundamentala in modul in care gandim?
In Momentul cuantic, filosoful Robert P. Crease si fizicianul Alfred Scharff Goldhaber reiau povestea fascinanta a modului in care cuantica a facut saltul din fizica in cultura populara, cu explorari sumare ale conceptelor matematice si fizice si descrieri ale disputelor aprinse dintre personaje precum Einstein, Schrodinger si Niels Bohr. Intelegerea si aprecierea imagisticii cuantice, folosirea ei justificata si abuziva, fac parte din ceea ce inseamna sa fii un om educat in secolul XXI.
Rezultatul colaborarii dintre cei doi autori este o sarbatoare a limbajului la granita dintre fizica si cultura, perfecta pentru oricine este atras de varietatea
infinita a ideilor.
Robert P. Crease este profesor la Departamentul de Filosofie al Universitatii Stony Brook. El este co‑redactor sef la Pysics Perspectives si scrie o rubrica lunara, „Critical Point“ („Punctul critic“) pentru revista Physics World. Este membru al Institutului de Fizica (IOP) din Londra si al Societatii Americane de Fizica (APS), din Statele Unite.
Alfred Scharff Goldhaber, profesor la Institutul Yang de Fizica Teoretica, la Universitatea Stony Brook, si membru al Societatii Americane de Fizica, reprezinta a doua dintre cele trei generatii de fizicieni pe care le are in familie. Colaborarile cu parintii lui au dus la ceea ce s‑ar putea sa fie primele publicatii mama si fiu din fizica, pe tema oscilatiilor nucleelor atomice. A colaborat cu tatal lui la un articol despre proprietatile neutrinilor, publicat cu prilejul centenarului acestuia in Physics Today. Cercetarile lui se concentreaza pe monopolii magnetici, particulele elementare, nuclee, materia condensata, astrofizica si cosmologie, si a scris numeroase recenzii despre subiecte specifice din fizica.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Audiobook, Popular Science, Quantum Mechanics

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Professor Robert P. Crease is Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Stony Brook University, New York.

Reviews

[Mircea Petcu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schrodinger a gândit celebrul experiment cu pisica ca pe o replică la "interpretarea Copenhaga" formulată de Bohr și Heisenberg, pe care el o numea "mecanica cuantică dogmatică". A fost o încercare de a păstra determinismul și realismul. Experimentul e o sabie cu două tăișuri, ambele părți îl pot invoca. Am ținut să precizez acest aspect, deoarece în puține cărți am întâlnit menționarea contextului în care s-a desfășurat disputa.

Recent am vizionat un videoclip cu fizicianul Lawrence Krauss, în care spunea că cei care invocă pisică lui Schrodinger "[...] vor să pară inteligenți. Nu contează cum interpretezi mecanica cuantică, important este să calculezi." Sau cum spunea Richard Feynman: "taci și calculează".

Cartea este o istorie a mecanicii cuantice, de la Planck la universurile paralele ale lui Everett.

[Brian Clegg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that is trying to be two very different things at the same time, which I suppose, given the subject, is apt. But that doesn't necessarily make it a good idea. On the one hand we find a really quite in-depth exploration of the development of quantum theory. There are some genuinely valuable insights and explanations, with significantly more use of equations than is common in popular science book, but rarely in a way that is scary. On the other hand, it churns out all the hackneyed attempts to base art on science that inevitably are either amateurish or cringemaking - plus presenting some of the more outrageous history of science ideas that emerged from the 1960s when everything had to break the mould and be provocative, however far fetched their ideas seemed.

I can imagine this was done to try to broaden the audience of the book. I can just see the marketing people thinking 'Popular science readers will love it, and so will arty types, so we'll sell lots more copies.' In practice, I think the reverse will happen, because a fair number of popular science enthusiasts will be put off by the wishy-washy science-as-metaphor stuff, while the arts types will find the hard core popular science tedious.

I'm not quite sure how in touch the academic authors are with the real world either. At one point we are told that Planck's equation E=hν is 'one of the few equations recognizable by the public.' Really? They've clearly been on campus for too long and need to get out more.

There is so much good material in the science parts that it's a real shame that the reader has to plough through pages of the hand waving to get to it. We are told at one point, with enthusiasm and no sense of criticism, about the work of Valerie Laws, who in 2002 spray painted words onto sheep, enabling the flock to spell out randomly(ish) generated phrases. Apparently a spokesperson for Northern Arts, which funded this venture, said the result was 'an exciting fusion of poetry and quantum physics.' And the artist commented 'I decided to explore randomness and some of the principles of quantum mechanics, through poetry, using the medium of sheep.' You couldn't parody this as a worse example of old-fashioned flaky linking of science and art. It's a ready-made Monty Python sketch. This had nothing to do with quantum physics.

There is plenty of great material in here if you want to expand a basic popular science understanding of quantum physics with a bit more depth, but you will have to wade through a lot of unnecessary material to get to it. Mostly the content seems spot on, though I was slightly concerned about a certain flexibility in the history of science presented when we hear, for instance, that returning from the 1911 Solvay conference 'British scientist Ernest Rutherford brought word back to England, where he shared his excitement with an entranced young Danish visitor, Niels Bohr.' Apart from Rutherford being a New Zealander, Bohr didn't meet Rutherford until the end of 1911 and I've never seen any suggestion that Rutherford was the first to bring the early quantum theory to Bohr's attention. So, approach with caution - but if you are tolerant (possibly more tolerant than me), you might enjoy it.

[Pierre Menard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert P. Crease (classe 1953) è uno storico e filosofo della scienza, specializzato in fisica. Alfred Scharff Goldhaber (classe 1940) è un fisico delle particelle, membro di una famiglia di fisici americani di origine tedesca. Da anni i due tengono, presso la Stony Brook University a New York, un corso intitolato "The Quantum Moment" e dedicato all'impatto culturale della meccanica quantistica (d'ora in poi QM). Argomento del corso: come e in che misura la QM, teoria fisica estremamente complessa, del tutto controintuitiva e che richiede una matematica superiore, è riuscito a influenzare la cultura contemporanea, dalla letteratura alle arti figurative, dalla musica alla psicologia, dall'economia alla politica, dal cinema al teatro, e quale impronta vi ha lasciato. A giudizio di Crease e Goldhaber, superato il "momento newtoniano" stiamo ormai vivendo il "momento quantistico" (la parola momentum, su cui giocano gli autori, ha significati specifici in fisica): quanti, discontinuità, complementarietà, indeterminazione, gatto di Schrödinger, variabili nascoste, problema della misura, sono termini che ormai circolano con frequenza ben oltre la cerchia degli addetti ai lavori, guadagnandosi spazi sempre più ampi – e spesso trasfigurandosi – nell'immaginario collettivo contemporaneo.

Il saggio, di lettura assolutamente piacevole e mai troppo impegnativa, segue lo sviluppo storico della QM dalla crisi della fisica classica all'emergere della "Old Quantum Theory", fino alle formulazioni teoriche concorrenti di Heisenberg e Schrödinger. Negli ultimi capitoli vengono affrontati gli aspetti filosofici più scottanti della teoria: dall'interpretazione di Copenhagen al concetto di indeterminazione, dai lavori di John Stewart Bell fino alla teoria dei mondi paralleli. Ogni capitolo è dedicato a un tema e diviso in due parti: nella prima l'esame storico e scientifico del tema si mescola con la descrizione delle relative "applicazioni" culturali; nella seconda, più breve e definita "intermezzo", si analizza il tema nel dettaglio, con un minimo di matematica, per avvicinare di più il profano alla fisica vera e propria (gli addetti ai lavori possono tranquillamente saltare questi intermezzi).

Devo dire che sono rimasto sorpreso dalla varietà di esempi di “applicazione” dei principi e degli effetti quantistici al di fuori della fisica che Crease e Goldhaber sono stati in grado di raccogliere. Le fonti citate sono tantissime (al punto che avrebbero meritato una bibliografia in fondo, invece di essere disperse nelle note a piè di pagina), e ad esse si aggiungono le foto di curiose opere d'arte, le divertenti vignette umoristiche (le migliori sono quelle di Randall Munroe, in particolare quella a pg. 302 sul quantum teleporting) e le freddure (domanda: "What's new?", risposta: "E/h") ispirate dalla QM.

Certo, una fetta consistente, sperabilmente non maggioritaria, degli usi non fisici della fisica quantistica è pura fruitloopery: in particolare, tutto quanto riguarda la psicologia, la psicanalisi e altre humanities che sfruttano la QM nel tentativo di darsi una patina di scientificità, ma finiscono per ottenere risultati controproducenti (come dimostra il famoso affaire Sokal, citato nel cap. 8). Anche l'uso sconsiderato del lessico e dei concetti fondamentali della QM nei romanzi non ha spesso sorte migliore, mietendo vittime più o meno illustri: John Updike, David Foster Wallace, Paulo Coelho, persino l'idolo delle adolescenti John Green, autore insieme a David Levithan del romanzo Will Grayson, Will Grayson, più volte citato nel saggio. C'è da dire che i due autori sono quasi sempre giudici indulgenti ed equidistanti, preferendo fornire al lettore le informazioni per formarsi un proprio parere. È ciò che accade con alcune tesi radicali, come quella dello storico della scienza Paul Forman, che subordina l'emergere della QM al clima culturale della Germania degli anni Venti, ostile alla causalità e al determinismo (tesi che personalmente trovo insostenibile). Nell'ambiguità rimane invece il Fundamental Fysiks Group, sodalizio studentesco fondato presso l'università di Berkeley nel 1975: se è vero che alle riunioni del gruppo partecipavano numerosi fisici che hanno dato contributi fondamentali alla teoria dell'informazione quantistica e alla verifica sperimentale dell'entanglement, è anche vero che il gruppo produsse discutibili esempi di misticismo quantistico come il controverso saggio "Il tao della fisica" di F. Capra (1975), che tenta di conciliare QM e dottrine religiose orientali.

Purtroppo anche alcuni scienziati di fama si sono dati a praticare la fruitloopery, come dimostrano le citazioni da The Mysterious Universe (1930) di James H. Jeans e le derive misticheggianti contenute in The Nature Of The Physical World (1928) di Arthur S. Eddington. Un fatto interessante, ben sottolineato da Crease e Goldhaber, è che la QM ebbe notevoli difficoltà ad essere accettata dagli stessi fisici, alcuni dei quali avevano contribuito a stabilirne le basi. Lasciando fuori Einstein, di cui penso sia ben nota la convinzione circa l'incompletezza della teoria quantistica, sia Max Planck che Robert Millikan manifestarono ostinatamente dubbi e perplessità, e credo siano particolarmente importanti le acute riflessioni sull'impatto filosofico della QM – sul determinismo e sul concetto di causa-effetto – fatte da Percy Bridgman all'indomani della pubblicazione del libro di Eddington (cap. 7). Bridgman ritiene che le nuove scoperte scientifiche dovrebbero essere elaborate dalla mente umana e accettate come novità, senza essere inserite in schemi pregiudiziali:

Quando il pensiero si adatterà alla realtà, la comprensione e la conquista del mondo che ci circonda accelereranno. Credo di poter dire che a lungo andare si osserverà anche un effetto positivo sul carattere dell'uomo; l'uomo comune reagirà con pessimismo, ma per affrontare una situazione del genere servirà il coraggio che viene da una certa nobiltà d'animo. [p. 171-2]

Ancor più interessanti sono le pagine dedicate a John S. Bell, alle motivazioni che lo spinsero a riprendere in mano il famigerato articolo EPR e al concetto di no-way physics. Per quanto Crease e Goldhaber da un punto di vista filosofico sposino un po' troppo il punto di vista kuhniano, c'è da dire che la fisica contenuta nel saggio è davvero spiegata in modo chiaro, corretto e rigoroso, senza mai essere pesante (vedi per esempio la spiegazione del principio di complementarietà e il problema dell'oggettività della misura nel cap. 8), complice anche una traduzione italiana sensata e accurata, come dimostrano alcune utili note. Una menzione speciale meritano infine il povero gatto di Schrödinger, che si guadagna sicuramente il Nobel per la categoria "metafora multiuso sempreverde" (e Crease e Goldhaber gli dedicano l'intero cap. 10), e la teoria degli universi paralleli di Hugh Everett III, i cui interessanti risvolti psicologici consolatori e il notevole impatto nella narrativa – non solo fantascientifica – sono ben descritti nel cap. 11. In questo ultimo caso, la letteratura va ben oltre la fisica, dato che c'è chi mette in dubbio la verificabilità/falsificabilità della teoria e gli universi di Everett non possono sfortunatamente comunicare tra loro (oltre a violare platealmente il principio del rasoio di Ockham).

Nelle pagine finali i due autori tentano un bilancio delle novità introdotte dalla QM in filosofia della scienza che hanno condotto alla revisione e al superamento dei vecchi concetti di oggettività, determinismo, relazione causa-effetto, e si chiedono quale reale impatto ha avuto la QM nel dibattito culturale contemporaneo. Crease e Goldhaber sono convinti che le correzioni della fisica classica operata dalla QM e l'apertura di nuovi orizzonti nella conoscenza umana abbiano avuto un riscontro positivo anche nelle discipline umanistiche. Trovo la loro conclusione molto ottimistica, forse troppo: temo infatti che il momento quantistico abbia avuto un migliore e più efficace impatto nei paesi anglosassoni che non in Italia, dove prevale ancora l'impostazione filosofica di Croce e Gentile, secondo la quale la filosofia può dire molto sulla scienza, ma la scienza deve tacere di fronte alla filosofia.

Consigliato a chi si sente poco determinato.

Sconsigliato a chi separa nettamente scienza e filosofia.

[Michael Huang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book coming out of a course taught in Stony Brook on the cultural impact made by discoveries in quantum mechanics (QM). If you are interested in QM, this is a fairly light-hearted good read, full of historical accounts, jokes, and stories about arts inspired/helped/influenced by QM lingo. This is not a book to explain QM to you. Crease may be versed in the math and physical concepts through teaching the course, but he's professor in Philosophy, not physics. It's one of those books that are good, even gripping, but ultimately you don't go through a "paradigm shift" after reading it. And many of the historical accounts are encountered in other general books about physics, I'm not sure there is a lot of new materials in that department. Nevertheless, since QM is a subject close to my heart, to me, this is a 3.5 star rounded up. YMMV.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking a familiar route from Newtonian physics into the "now for something completely different" variations of reality brought to science through quantum physics, the author breakdown the philosophical and artistic response to the fledgling theory that bolted into quantum mechanics and rewrote the rest of the twentieth century. Some intriguing diversions into the writing of innovators, skeptics and supporters, mostly presented in between-chapter interludes that never really get bogged down by formulae. The authors have a heavy hand for "fruitloopery" when mystics or quacks grab hold of a quantum concept, yet they prop up their own brand of marginalia like Quantum of Solace, Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Bull Durham as questionable literary sources. The final chapter and conclusion stand as a rallying call for an integration of science and humanities that on one hand could simply be marketing material for their course, but on the other hand (anything quantum seems to have an equally likely scenario) could be just the thing to lead into publishing interdisciplinary entanglement. Exciting times, this century-plus long moment!

[Laia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bé per un tastet dels temes de física més rellevants i perfecte per comprendre l'historia de com hem arribat a les conclusions actuals, els problemes encara presents i la relació entre les humanitats i la ciència.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

The authors, one a philosopher the other a physicist draw on their training and six years of co-teaching to dramatize the quantum’s rocky path from scientific theory to public understanding. The book explores the quantum’s manifestation in everything from art and sculpture to the prose of John Updike. Understanding and appreciation the quantum language and imagery, and recognizing its misuse, is part of what is means to be an educated person today according to the authors.

The authors recount a series of historical moments that occurred during the development of quantum mechanics in order to demonstrate how quickly scientific language worked its way into the artistic world. The author’s vivid storytelling of Einstein’s theories of relativity to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle to modern conception of causality. Crease and Goldhaber keep the discussion of these complex topics clear and fun to read. Pop culture took to the quantum cause with far more gusto than most physicists. Experimentalist Robert Milliken tried to kill the idea, but his lab results kept confirming it. It is fascinating that concepts imagined 100 years ago will influence the physical and intellectual spaces we inhabit in the future. I read this as an audio book downloaded from Audible. Sean Runnette narrated the book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is set up with the scientific explanations of the discussed concepts as "Interludes" at the end of each chapter. I did not understand most of the Interludes, but that's my own fault for never making it to the calculus math level. One of the main points in this book is the concept of what the authors call "fruitloopery," or the hi-jacking of the language of quantum mechanics, to explain human phenomena, when the speaker does not understand the term. They say "...popular discourse...does not necessarily respect technical explanations, [or understand them!] and often adopts and transforms scientific terms for its own purposes" (222). They concentrate on the use of the phrase "quantum leap" (which does not mean a large step, quite the opposite) and the Schrodinger's cat example. They say it's fine to use these terms in non-scientific settings as long as you know that they mean. And "...talking about...quantum mechanics...only becomes fruitloopery - wacky and pretentious - when its metaphorical origin is forgotten and its meaning is considered to come from its origin rather than how it's used, as if its scientific origin gave it special, magical powers" (227). An interesting, if complicated, read.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book held some promise, I abandoned it by page 44 due to time constraints and so many others to read. I think the authors style was approachable but I was deterred by their frequent use of formulae and terminology that were a little beyond me. If I had the time to explore, with other sources, that terminology and the concepts they were discussing in a little more detail I might have enjoyed the book more by being able to follow it better, but of course that would have entailed a lot of work. They would colloquially set the stage by introducing the characters and the history and then throw in scientific detail that would lose me. I'm too rusty on calculus and math to easily follow the discussion. I understand that math and formulas are fundamental to the detailed exploration of physics and quantum mechanics, but I guess I'm not that interested in exploring the topic at that detail. I feel like, to enjoy this book, I would need to brush up on my calculus and my physics terminology.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult book. The subject of quantum physics is fascinating to me, but like many people, I have a hard time understanding it. I have read several other books on the topic that I liked a lot better, and where I came away with a better understanding. What I did like in this book was the history of the science, which is actually what the book is about, but the forays into the technical aspects were difficult to understand.

[Peter Aronson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book's focus both on quantum mechanics itself and on its impact on society. I suspect its a good thing that one of the writers was an actual physicist, since left to themselves, philosophers tend to wander off into philosophy, which is of little use to anyone.

[Grazyna Nawrocka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even although the book is considered "popular science," I had problems understanding some of the concepts, that's why I gave it 4 stars. I still find it a good read.

Some of information provided made me questioning if this is even science. Using in Planck formula "some integer," (like it doesn't matter if it is 1 or 500,000?), or applying "imaginary object," (not specifying details; what, we do not have enough of real ones?). No wonder Einstein suggested that we might not have enough variables to connect the dots in quantum theory.

Interesting statement by J.W.N. Sullivan about uncertainty's principle: "Science has become aware that its knowledge is a particularly restricted kind of knowledge. Also, it has no exclusive claim to truth. It is admitted that there may be kinds of knowledge which are valid, even though they have not been, and cannot be reached by scientific methods."

In the other place Einstein says: "It is only in quantum theory that Newton's differential method becomes inadequate, and indeed strict causality fails us." [i. e. - some experiments are not driven by cause and effect, and probably cannot be replicated exactly].

What I can relate to, is that if wave moves, than we cannot establish exact position, because it continuously changes, and if we decide to find out position, than it cannot be wave, but can be a particle. When it comes to something at the same time dead and alive, only compelling example I found is of a star, whose light we still see, but it has been dead for many million years.

The fact that one electron can pass through two different slots simultaneously makes me question if maybe there is even more microscopic division inside the electron, that we cannot see yet (I'm closer here to Einstein's hope, that we just lack of knowledge to interpret the situation properly).

[Karel Baloun · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a history of science book focused on the impact of paradigm shifts on popular culture, I herein learned so much physics! Fermions and Bosons… can two occupy the same position? Are they distinguishable, do they have an identity label? Fermions do not have such information.. completely interchangeable. Uncertainty principal is misnamed. While it does say that you cannot know a quantum objects position as well as velocity, it actually defines the probabilities of such conjugate quantities. And Einstein was wrong for the last two decades of his life, in persistent denial of quantum physics.

In 1991 in college I took "Physics for Poets", which took us down a rabbit hole of "superstring theory" that was the pet perspective of one visiting professor. I wish this book had been the central organizing principle of that class.. in looking at the complicated real history of physics (as opposed to the speculative future) I learned so much here about the key principles of paradigm shifts.

In Ch20, paradoxes like Zen koans, are supposed to make us think. But more often than not they actually tell us we don’t need to bother thinking.” Sadly true. This book on the other hand, leads readers to think deeply on so many levels, about the science, about the scientists, about the contemporaneus culture and how it changed, about conterfactual developments and cultures, and even about human psychology and philosophy.

I listened to this as an audiobook on audible, but this content would be better on paper. Some of the equations are unmemorable when experienced as just voice. Also, one beauty of the book are many literary references, which would be easy to highlight or retrieve by flipping paper pages, and scanning for quoted or italicized sections. How would I find the single name of a play referenced several times in 8hrs of 1.2x speed audio?

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've read a few books on quantum physics, you may have reached a ceiling in terms of what you're expecting to get from the next one. As non-physicists, there is only so far we can go in understanding and appreciating the weirdness about it that we love, the experiments that amaze us, or the profound depths of what the theory brings on the whole. Once you've read a few books on the subject, you realize that try as you might, if you're mathematically challenged, there's only so far any of the authors can take you.

Enter The Quantum Moment to shed light on what quantum physics has really meant to the world at large throughout its discovery and development. The authors tell the story of the development of the theory, yes. But the emphasis is more on what it all meant to those of us outside the labs and the think tanks and the seminars. It still tells of the dramas of physicists matching wits and bruising egos, and of those who pushed back for the sake of pushing back (and pushing ahead). But it also cites novels and art and comics, and reminds the reader of how pervasive the ideas are, even if few of us can adequately articulate them.

Mind you, I would not recommend this as a first book on quantum physics. It is helpful to have previous exposure to things like the Copenhagen Interpretation, superposition, and the double slit experiment. But if you've already read up on such topics and want to add some broader context to what you already know, this book is worth the time.

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

Although draggy at the start, this book does offer interesting perspectives that other books on Quantum Mechanics do not, that is the philosophical view, for example analysing the impact the Pauli exclusion principle has on human identity. It clarifies misconceptions like how the Schrödinger’s equation as a calculation tool does not mean the system really is in all those states, but only the probability that each one will become real. This has helped me realise the Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment is in fact not an accurate representation of what Quantum Mechanics entails and in fact, is a criticism of the Copenhagen interpretation. Recommended for anyone interested not only in the math and physics concepts of Quantum Mechanics but also the impacts on popular culture.

And a quote referenced in the book that I found very enlightening:
“Does the moon exist at a time for which no objective physical events whatsoever — photographic images, tides, or anything of the kind — can be interpreted as allowing us to conclude the presence of this allegedly massive, reflective object relatively near the Earth? No, under such circumstances it does not! And what a shock this would indeed be! But note that this is rather a far cry from the apparent claim that if we humans all chose to avert our eyes the moon would go out of existence, and is recreated by us (each of us) at the instant we choose to look up again. Mind has not created matter.” — Marshall Spector

[William Schram · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Quantum Moment is a book about the influence of quantum mechanics on popular culture and physics. Quantum theory did not exist before 1900. The book deals with the history of physics. There aren't a lot of equations to dig through, but it does include the essentials.

The influence of quantum mechanics on popular culture mostly comes from things named quantum something. For example, there is an old television program named Quantum Leap. I never watched it, but the gist is that a scientist jumps to different realities. Other items of interest include the Uncertainty Principle and the Pauli Exclusion Principle. Schrodinger's Cat is yet another idea disseminated into popular culture.

Physics in the 19th century had an illustrious history. However, near the beginning of the 20th century, scientists thought we had found everything there was to discover. There were some nagging problems, but they used classical methods and dealt with them. Enter Max Planck. Planck didn't want to revolutionize our understanding of reality. He wanted a quiet life. Planck dedicated his time to solving the Ultraviolet Catastrophe. To solve the problem, Planck had to evoke a mathematical trick where the energy could only release itself in discrete packets called quanta. Little did Planck realize that he opened a proverbial can of worms with his solution.

I enjoyed the book. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.

[C.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked that the authors pulled from the larger context when discussing the aspects and implications of quantum physics. They discussed what led up to and helped shaped the thinking surrounding the discoveries of the quantum world, as well as what these discoveries might mean for the future. They were quick to point out those theories they consider "fruitloopery," or using "scientific language inappropriately and without comprehension in order to increase believability of a concept," such as the idea of universal consciousness. I enjoyed seeing the connections and hearing more about the conversations between the physicists who developed the math and ideas of quantum physics. Overall, it was a good read, but not one that I returned to eagerly.

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mecanica cuantica, dupa cum a fost numita aceasta a doua revolutie, explica fenomene pe care mecanica newtoniană nu le explicase si raspundea la o ampla gama de intrebari, cum ar fi cum straluceste Soarele si dinamica atomilor. A inlocuit fizica newtoniană ca teorie a domeniului microscopic. In cea de-a doua faza a istoriei cuanticii, se putea vorbi despre o „lume cuantica" in contrast cu lumea newtoniană, ca si cum acestea doua s-ar fi referit la teritorii diferite, guvernate de legi diferite. Acest teritoriu nou era exotic si chiar magic, in contrast cu cel al lui Newton.

[Semih · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kitabın dizgesi çekici olsa da herşey olmaya çalışıp hiçbir şey olamamış bir kitap olmuş. Çeviri ya da aktarmk istediği bilgiler hususunda bir problemi yok ancak içindeki görsellerden formüllere, tablolardan konuların birbirleri ile kurulan ilişkilerine, hem çok popüler olmaya çalışıp hem de çok popülerliğe kaçmadan şu bilgiyi de vereyim ama tarihsel arka planı da anlatmadan olmaz o sırada şuraya da bir formül sokuşturuvereyim kabilinden bir kitap olmuş. Bu sebeple uzun süre okuduğum kitaplar arasında tuttuğum kitabı yarıda bıraktım.

[Adam84 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kvantová mechanika nepochybně převrátila základní přesvědčení o prostoru a čase, kauzalitě a realitě, a jak v celku zdařile popisují autoři, měla také velký přesah do filozofie, kultury a společnosti.
To co jsem si já z této knihy odnesl, by se dalo ve zkratce vystihnout slovy: "Svět ztratil dno"

Doporučing:
Na to aby se člověk naučil milovat neurčitost (jak předesílá podnázev knihy), nemusí být zrovna geniální matematik, ale tuto knihu bych jako vstup do problematiky kvantové mechaniky nevolil, spíš bych si ji nechal na později ;-)

[Johns · Rating 3 out of 5]

This work is a pastiche amalgam of two intense authors. It is sometime hard to follow the logical procession of their narrative since the reader is unsure who is speaking. I found myself longing for a clear biographical record of the amazing development of the Quantum Theory in the 20th century. I suggest an interested reader find and consume Louisa Gilder's seminal book, IMHO a better review of the same topic.

[Micah Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting stories about the fathers of quantum mechanics, and how they came to their conclusions. Also great insights into why "quantum" is used so much in popular culture and why it is mostly used incorrectly, even Heisenberg's famous cat is almost always used incorrectly. There was a lot of the math I didn't understand, but the theory and the interactions between the physicists and others were fascinating. It sounds like a fun experience to take their class.

[John Gates · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic journey through the history of physics up to this title's printing!

A lot of this is over my head, due to not studying physics formally and therefore 'getting the math' , but a need to understand such things in order to follow along isn't necessary. The ability to bend one's mind might be limiting, if open-mindedness is not your gig. Physics will do that on occasion.

Thank goodness string theory was not a major topic.

This might be worth a reread in the future.

[Fievel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. It is built from the curriculum of a class the authors teach on the influence of quantum physics on culture. They jump around in the timeline of discovery a lot by focusing on individual concepts, like a quantum leap or Schrodinger's cat, but that is the way you have to organize the ideas so it makes sense. It is more of a cultural critique book than a physics book but there is lots of physics in there too.

[Rene Stein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kniha, která se zabývá kvantovou mechanikou. Spoiler alert: Kapitoly z fyziky jsou dobré, kapitoly o umění a recepci kvantového "obratu" v humanitních vědách jsou odpad. Ještě že autoři tasí dost často na ty postmoderní bláboly Sokalovu "břitvu".
Na nevinné ovce s náhodnými slovy na svých hřbetech, které svým přesunem v prostoru skládají nové básně, ale dlouho nezapomenu, to se musí těm umělcům koketujícím s poetickými hovadinami o kvantech a neurčitosti zase nechat.

[Pooja Kashyap · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Quantum Moment by Robert P. Crease and Alfred Scharff Goldhaber is one of the most fascinatingly informative books I have read so far. I have recently developed interest in the world of quantum and I find this book fully satiated my curiosity. It is beautifully written for a beginner like me.

Chronologically the book starts with the beginning of quantum theory and takes the reader to the pinnacle of its major philosophical implications - an awesome flight with an amazing view.

(Spoiler alert!)

Until 1927, one ‘fact’ that ruled among thinkers was the predictability of reality and that everything about the external world was homogeneity and continuity, an idea that enveloped the Newtonian world. An arena where everything moved about in harmony with each other, even the transition from past to future was perfectly laid down under the governance of the universal mathematical laws.

However, in September 1927, the ‘One’ rule changed and thus altered the entire perception. According to their respective sizes, objects started following different rules. Things turned out to be unpredictable and one became doubtful about the presence of objects and their aims. The observation became dislodged, as there raised gaps and inconsistencies in reality.

This book is a brainchild of a philosopher, Dr. Crease and a physicist, Dr. Goldhaber at Stony Brook University. As per them, no sooner, Max Planck surfaced “black box” radiation the conformity of Newtonian world begins to disintegrate. The finding revealed that light radiation does not flow in a continuous flux rather moves in a discrete manner in form of standard sized packets called the quantum.

Conventional physicists did not give enough weightage to the quantum theory. They nearly nullified it by classifying it as only computational trick. However, Albert Einstein in 1905 proved that photoelectric effect is the outcome of light energy being transported separately in quantized packets. And random movements as depicted by Brownian motion too stressed to the same phenomenon. In 1913, Niels Bohr proposed that atom is the smallest element with a nucleus, which is positively charged and is surrounded by electrons that have circular orbit hence travel around the nucleus or in a specific orbit depending upon the rate of absorbing or releasing the quanta of energy. The structure resembles solar system except the fact that in place of gravity there is electrostatic forces within the atomic structure.

During the late 1920s, Newtonian physics received a huge jolt with the creation of quantum mechanics by Werner Karl Heisenberg. His proposed uncertainty principle suggested that both location and momentum of a particle at any given time could never be determined. During the same time, around 1926, Erwin Schrödinger came up with his psi function or wave mechanics as per which, there is a probability of a particle to be discovered in a location in terms of a wave. This idea led to the formulation of Bohr’s principle, which was, an object or a particle could be in a wave or a particle format depending upon the way it is measured. The proposal suggested that that location and momentum of a particle couldn’t be determined by nature rather it is depended on the act of observation.

In a plausible manner, Dr. Crease and Dr. Goldhaber presented these ideas sequentially and then moved onto the cultural implications of the quantum revolution. A place where there is randomness among particles, particles that follow a wave motion and observation affects its position and momentum. How does these subtle changes, effects the way we see the world? Authors have attempted in answering questions like these. After all, with the emergence of new science, methods too have been revamped in experiencing the world.

The authors reconstructed John F. Kennedy’s assassination to the indeterminacy of subatomic particles. Critic and novelist John Updike jotted down a few reflections on photographs that were taken after President Kennedy was shot by assassin’s bullets. More closely the pictures were scrutinized, the more sense the previously held unwanted or ignored background objects made. For instance, ‘the umbrella man’, ‘tan-coated man’, ‘a gray Rambler driven by a Negro’, all who were previously thought to be random people/objects were actually part of the whole conspiracy.

Thus, the authors postulated that randomness prevailed not only at the subatomic level but at the social level as well. Some of the researchers like British astronomer Arthur Eddington suggested that quantum world is the door that leads to the world of spirituality. Thinking on the same line of thought, American physicist Arthur H. Compton asserted that the quantum universe indicates the existence of God. The Fundamental Fysiks Group made a connection between quantum mechanics to New Age Eastern mysticism.

Nevertheless, Dr. Crease and Dr. Goldhaber were pointing out towards the other direction. For them, quantum mechanics acted like a wake-up call that took humanity form the illusion of perfect determinism and mathematical predictability that shaped Newtonian universe to all pervasive randomness.

Source: http://www.techietonics.com/thinking-...

[Troy Tegeder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather than a book about quantum mechanics, this is more like a book thank kind of talks about the people who made discoveries pertaining to quantum mechanics, and kind of talks about how pop culture and artists use/misuse scientific terminology, and kind of talks a little about actual quantum mechanics.

[Linda Vituma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Piekrītu, ka tikai tāpēc, ka cilvēks kaut ko daudz dara, piemēram, klausās grāmatas par kvantu fiziku, viņa zināšanas un izpratne nevairojas. Bet varbūt tomēr pa kādam kvantam pārlec, pielec, aizlec. Un pa kādam vilnim ievibrē no grāmatas manī un no manis tajā, kā ieraugu pasauli. Citādāku kā pirms grāmatas izlasīšanas. Pārliecinoši - citādāku.

[Bravo27 · Rating 4 out of 5]

InteressanteconnubiotrafisicaefilosofiaincentratosullaMeccanicaQuantisticaeirisvoltichequestadisciplinahaavutoinambitosocialeeculturale.Illibrosileggebeneanchegraziealfattochegliaspettipiùtecnicisonosemplificatialmassimo(anziavoltetroppo)mentrenumerosisonoiriferimentiadopereletterarie,fumetti,filmeccetera.

[Robert Fritzen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great start to understanding quantum physics and what it means to the world

Understand quantum physics? Neither do I. But this book did a great job at giving my understanding a quantum leap forward.