Quantum mechanics is an extraordinarily successful scientific theory. It is also completely baffling. From the moment of its inception, its founders struggled to understand its meaning. This struggle was most famously encapsulated in the debate between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein; Quantum Drama tells the story of their engagement and its legacy.
The book combines popular and textbook presentation. It aims not to teach readers how to do quantum mechanics but rather helps them understand how to think about quantum mechanics. The real source of confusion in quantum mechanics does not originate in the mathematics, but in our understanding of what a scientific theory is supposed to represent.
Quantum mechanics is one of the most successful of scientific theories, but what does it actually mean? From Schrodinger's Cat to Many Worlds, Jim Baggott guides us through the many attempts to determine its meaning. Richard Feynman once declared that 'nobody understands quantum mechanics'. This book will tell you why.
The greatest challenge for physics is to combine its two most successful theories: general relativity and quantum mechanics. The resulting quantum theory of gravity would explain the universe across all scales. Much has been said about the approach based on string theory. Here, Jim Baggott describes its powerful rival: Loop Quantum Gravity.
How did our understanding of mass evolve from the geometric atoms of ancient Greece to the quantum ghostliness of today? Jim Baggott ingeniously contextualizes that eventful science history. Barbara Kiser, Nature
Jim Baggot has impressive mastery, not just of the physics and chemistry, but also of the other sciences that play roles in this story. The story this book tells is compelling, well written, and satisfying. Richard A. Richards, The Quarterly Review of Biology
Jim Baggott sets out the scientific story of creation - 13.8 billion years from the Big Bang to human consciousness, via the origins of space and time, mass and light, stars, the habitable earth, and life itself. From astrophysics to biology, the whole inspiring picture is here.
A new edition of the account of the race to build humankind's most destructive weapon. This book draws on declassified material, such as MI6's FarmHall transcripts, coded Soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers in the Venona project, and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the Soviet archives.
A controversial popular science title in which Jim Baggott asks whether all that we currently know about the universe is based upon science or fantasy.
Utterly beautiful. Profoundly disconcerting. Quantum theory is quite simply the most successful account of the physical universe ever devised. The pursuit of its implications has been the driving motivation of physicists for 100 years. Jim Baggott traces the story, the personalities and the rivalries, through 40 turning-point moments.
