The Quantum Ten: A Story of Passion, Tragedy, Ambition, and Science | 
 enlarge | Author: Sheilla Jones
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $14.90
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 91767
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1
ISBN: 0195369092
Dewey Decimal Number: 530.1209
EAN: 9780195369090
Publication Date: May 28, 2008
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Product Description
Theoretical physics is in trouble. At least that's the impression you'd get from reading a spate of recent books on the continued failure to resolve the 80-year-old problem of unifying the classical and quantum worlds. The seeds of this problem were sewn eighty years ago when a dramatic revolution in physics reached a climax at the 1927 Solvay conference in Brussels. It's the story of a rush to formalize quantum physics, the work of just a handful of men fired by ambition, philosophical conflicts and personal agendas.
Sheilla Jones paints an intimate portrait of the key figures who wrestled with the mysteries of the new science of the quantum, along with a powerful supporting cast of famous (and not so famous) colleagues. The Brussels conference was the first time so many of the "quantum ten" had been in the same place: Albert Einstein, the lone wolf; Niels Bohr, the obsessive but gentlemanly father figure; Max Born, the anxious hypochondriac; Werner Heisenberg, the intensely ambitious one; Wolfgang Pauli, the sharp-tongued critic with a dark side; Paul Dirac, the silent Englishman; Erwin Schrodinger, the enthusiastic womanizer; Prince Louis de Broglie, the French aristocrat; and Paul Ehrenfest, who was witness to it all. Pascual Jordan, the ardent Aryan nationalist, came uninvited.
This is the story of quantum physics that has never been told, an equation-free investigation into the turbulent development of the new science and its very fallible creators, including little-known details of the personal relationship between the deeply troubled Ehrenfest and his dear friend Albert Einstein. Jones weaves together the personal and the scientific in a heartwarming--and heartbreaking--story of the men who struggled to create quantum physics: a story of passion, tragedy, ambition and science.
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| Customer Reviews:
 The personal side of science June 4, 2008
parmenides
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
This interesting book provides a special view of quantum theory.
It provides an insight into the origins of the theory based on the personal
lives of its creators.
The book treats scientific activity as any other cultural activity
making clear that even the most "objective" of our mathematical theories
(like the theories of mathematical physics) ought to be seen as cultural
products within the social and political frame of their conception and
(perhaps more importantly) within the professional and financial strains
and aspirations of their creators. This is indeed the case from the beginning
of abstract mathematical thought in ancient Greece to this day.
There is no deep discussion of the mathematics/concepts of the theory and
an expert in the theory would certainly not become any wiser as to its
meaning. However, the greatest service provided by the text is a better
understanding of the shaky foundations of the theory that was conceived
as an effective model of reality as allowed by the mathematical capabilities
of that time and not at all as a "fundamental" theory as understood today.
The theory emerged as a recipe for understanding experiments with no
intrinsic limits on its applicability or relevance to other situations.
Young people interested in a realistic view of how real science is done
rather than idealized, fairy-tale treatments would find this text interesting.
Interesting but not captivating so four stars.
 Does not say anything new September 26, 2008
Raghuram Krishnaswamy (Boston, MA)
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
OK, the premise is a noble one. The subject matter is an esoteric one that few people would care to know about. I know equations in a book halve (if not completely reduce) the sales. But for a book that professes to introduce the notoriety of the quantum ten should at least list out one equation for each person that they produced and seriously embroiled in this 1927 Solvay controversy. At the very least explain what the wave function is and what its implications really mean for quantum physics. Please please do not be scared to put equations in a book. I thought I'd see E=hv or
pq - qp = h/2*pi or schrodinger's wave equation. Sad, sad, sad. I hope she does something interesting in her second edition (if it ever gets to that)
This book has facts that can be gotten out of Wikipedia. It does not say anything new about the physics or the people. No new light on wisdom, knowledge or history I'm afraid. It can all be gotten on the net, sorry to say.
My two cents - rent it at your public library but don't waste money buying it
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