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Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science | 
 enlarge | Author: David Lindley
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 26784
Media: Paperback
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 1400079969
Dewey Decimal Number: 530
EAN: 9781400079964
Publication Date: February 12, 2008
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Product Description
Werner Heisenberg’s “uncertainty principle” challenged centuries of scientific understanding, placed him in direct opposition to Albert Einstein, and put Niels Bohr in the middle of one of the most heated debates in scientific history. Heisenberg’s theorem stated that there were physical limits to what we could know about sub-atomic particles; this “uncertainty” would have shocking implications. In a riveting account, David Lindley captures this critical episode and explains one of the most important scientific discoveries in history, which has since transcended the boundaries of science and influenced everything from literary theory to television.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
 An Excellent Summary of the Quantum Dilemma! March 13, 2007
David B Richman (Mesilla Park, NM USA)
74 out of 77 found this review helpful
The Quantum and its resulting uncertainty has haunted physics since Max Planck first brought the idea up (with a certain amount of distaste) in 1900. Einstein added to the trend in 1905, although he did not like the result either. Niels Bohr at first did not appreciate the prospect, but eventually put his own interpretation on it. Werner Heisenberg followed the quantum theory to the Uncertainty Principle, which essentially tolled the death knell to classical deterministic physics.
David Lindley has produced a new rendition of this story in "Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science." While this story has been told by various authors before, it has never had a clearer or more succinct exposition than this one. Here are all the players, not only Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg and Planck, but the Curies, Pauli, Dirac, Born, Schroedinger and many others. In the end we are left with the triumph of quantum physics, but also with a much more uncertain universe where the old mechanistic model simply will not answer the ultimate questions. Quantum mechanics won't answer them either, but in a quantum universe these questions may make no sense anyway! Perhaps (we may hope)they can't be answered because the questions are not yet properly formulated! Only if we can unite quantum theory with relativity (the unified theory) can we hope to answer anything in a definitive way and this has not so far been accomplished!
Lindley's book is not a comprehensive treatment of the problem, but a short history of the idea and an explanation of why quantum theory matters. A good introduction for the reader who lacks the mathematics (as I do) to deeply probe the field, "Uncertainty" should be read by anyone who would like to understand one of the major ideas of modern science. Among other things, the reader will gain some comprehension of the difficulties involved in the scientific endeavour and of the often complex personalities who practice this arcane activity.
The Philosophy of Quantum Physics April 14, 2007
Timothy Haugh (New York, NY United States)
40 out of 40 found this review helpful
In Uncertainty, Mr. Lindley has written a very user-friendly history of the philosophical changes that came about in physics through the growth of our understanding of quantum physics. As a teacher of physics, I am always looking for books on the subject that are readily understandable by the average intelligent reader. This one certainly fits the bill.
Please note, however, that the focus here is more on theory and philosophy than what might be termed "hard science." There is very little talk of experiments and there is nary an equation in the entire book. Instead, this is a story of theorists and their attempts to interpret and give meaning to the strange things that were happening in physics in the first decades of the twentieth century. Moreover, it is a story of how some of the greatest minds in science disagreed strenuously over these things.
Despite the subtitle, many more names flow through this narrative than Einstein, Bohr and Heisenberg. We also get insight into Pauli, Dirac, Born, Schrodinger, and many others. In fact, Einstein really plays little more than a supporting role here. (I suppose having his name on the cover--and first, no less--means more readers are likely to pick it up.) Readers looking for a lot on Einstein will have to look elsewhere. (Relativity theory is barely mentioned in this book on quantum mechanics.) It is Heisenberg who really is center stage. Not at all surprising since it is his uncertainty principle that gives this book its title.
In the end, Lindley gives us a lot of good history, a bit on personalities and a bit more on scientific philosophy as it relates to quantum theory. He also offers real insight into how the scientific mind works and how theory is hashed out by its practitioners in a way that should be accessible to most readers. Anyone interested in modern physics would find this book worth reading.
Elegant and exciting September 1, 2007
Herbert Gintis (Northampton, MA USA)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
I read two graduate texts on quantum mechanics recently. The first took an historical approach, beginning with Planck's work on black-body radiation, then Einstein's treatment of Brownian motion and light quanta, proceeding on to Bohr's atom, Compton scattering, the Zeeman effect, and so on. The second started out by saying (I paraphrase), "Here's Schroedinger's equation. The rest of the book goes through various solutions, with different potentials."
I find it completely incredible that this little equation can have so many implications, none of them ever having been found to be wrong. Lindley's book is about the "meaning" of quantum mechanics, a project that most physicists consider irrelevant at best. I still remember listening to Feynman's Cal Tech lectures on quantum mechanics, where his urged his student not to try to figure what the equation "means." Rather, he urged them just to solve it and get an intuitive "feel" for how it works. Quantum mechanics doesn't "mean" anything. It just is.
This stance is not enough for many people, including virtually all of its creators, who worked in the dizzying years of discovery, 1900 to 1927. Bohr' model did fit some of the specroscopic data on hydrogen very well, but he spent most of his intellectual (as opposed to organizational) energy thereafter ruminating on the principle of complementarity and the so-called Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. The next generation of physicist could not have cared less. When asked about Bohr's interpretation, Dirac replied that there were no equations, so there was nothing of interest there.
This may be the bast book ever written on the topic, despite its elementary nature. Lindley handle complex topics (e.g., Mach and Carnap) with ease and brevity, yet capturing the essence of the issues. His descriptions are what might be termed "stream of consciousness" physics, because he has the ability to enter and explore highly heterogeneous modalities of consciousness, without ever leaving the physics far out of the picture. After you have read this wonderful book, try Abraham Pais' biographies of Einstein and Bohr. They are more work, but more than worth the effort.
God Not Only Plays Dice, She Cheats! April 10, 2008
Steven J. Bissell (Denver, CO USA)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Richard Feynman once remarked, perhaps apocryphally, that if anyone told you they `understood' quantum theory, that the one thing you could depend on is that they had missed something. That is why I find it interesting that many of the `so-so' or negative reviews of this book focus on the issue that it does not impart an `understanding' of quantum theory or mechanics. The entire point of the book is the debate between `determinism,' the idea that everything is knowable (understandable), and `uncertainty,' the idea that nothing can be `known' in the ultimate sense as everything exists only as a probability.
So, in the limited sense, this book will not allow you to `understand' quantum mechanics; if you are a careful reader you will see that `understanding' in the common sense is impossible if you accept uncertainty.
In the past few years there have been many books about particle physics, string theory, cosmology, and such which are more or less dependent on the idea that at the heart of the matter uncertainty rules the function of physics on both the large and the small scale. Rutherford once asked Bohr what `caused' the electron to shift from one state to another; Bohr spent most of the rest of his life trying to explain that the question was irrelevant; nothing `causes' the shift; it is a probability function. At the larger scale Edward Tryon said "our Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time."
I really admire this book because it does focus on the personalities of the big players in this debate, something other reviewers have criticized. But unless you understand the background of these giants of science you will not understand why some of them resisted the idea of indeterminism even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
But the debate continues with some popular writers, Dinesh D'Souza, `What's So Great About Christianity?,' for example, who wish to maintain that all scientists accept a deterministic model of the Universe and that this constitutes a sort of `religious faith' in causality. The fact is that most scientists ignore the issue as it has little to do with day to day science. But if you are at all interested in what the debate means in so far as particle physics and cosmology is concerned, this book is an excellent primer on the topic. Because the book does not present a comprehensive, non-mathematical, explanation for quantum mechanics should not be seen as a fault, it's `simply one of those things.'
A Scientific History for Quantum September 8, 2008
Readalots (South Texas, USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
David Lindley's 2008 256-page paperback "Uncertainty" presents the modern "struggle for the soul of science". This is an informative read explaining the origins for postmodern science's withdrawal from quantum theory.
Lindley here brings to the table a historical analysis of nuclear physics and atomic physics. He reviews the principal players in this drama (Brown, Darwin, the Curies, Plank, Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, and many more). The book considers Brownian movement, Einsteinian relativity, Rutherford's atomic theory, Sommerfeld's fourth quantum number, Heisenberg's half quantum number, and many more physics discoveries through the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
With an eye to making this history more informative, and perhaps technical science more applicable, Lindley includes many interesting anecdotes. Biographical sketches tell the history. Many 19th century scientists were churchmen because of the vigorous clergy educational requirements (page 16). Einstein began his career as a patent office clerk (page 27). The vacationing Bohr brothers barely escaped Germany, as it closed borders behind them, half an hour after the Kaiser's declaring war on Russia (page 57). Pauli was an undergraduate amidst 1919 Germany's red and white terrors (page 71). Lindley shows scientists' political leanings, religious attitudes, personal biases, and likes and dislikes for one another.
Lindley's presentation here seemingly suggests contemporary science's emergent exit from quantum mechanics. From its earliest days quantum has remained confusing and unpredictable (Einstein was among the first to question its uncertain nature). Today's science continues to look for alternatives to quantum that are more sure and true.
Although this small book is somewhat technical, Lindley adeptly works to put all theories and scientific language into lay language. Even the most scientifically inept will find this book readable and interesting. The book is authoritative and well researched with 17 pages of endnotes. It is recommended to everyone in the sciences and humanities.
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