Einstein’s Struggles with Quantum Theory

Einstein’s Struggles with Quantum Theory PDF Author: Dipankar Home
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387715207
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
This book presents an account of all aspects of Einstein’s achievements in quantum theory, his own views, and the progress his work has stimulated since his death. While some chapters use mathematics at an undergraduate physics level, a path is provided for the reader more concerned with ideas than equations, and the book will benefit to anybody interested in Einstein and his approach to the quantum.

Einstein’s Struggles with Quantum Theory

Einstein’s Struggles with Quantum Theory PDF Author: Dipankar Home
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387715207
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 374

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book presents an account of all aspects of Einstein’s achievements in quantum theory, his own views, and the progress his work has stimulated since his death. While some chapters use mathematics at an undergraduate physics level, a path is provided for the reader more concerned with ideas than equations, and the book will benefit to anybody interested in Einstein and his approach to the quantum.

A Student's Guide to Einstein's Major Papers

A Student's Guide to Einstein's Major Papers PDF Author: Robert E Kennedy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199694036
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
In 1905 Albert Einstein produced breakthrough work in three major areas of physics (atoms and Brownian motion, quanta, and the special theory of relativity), followed, in 1916, by the general theory of relativity. This book develops the detail of the papers, including the mathematics, to guide the reader in working through them.

From Copernicus to Einstein

From Copernicus to Einstein PDF Author: Hans Reichenbach
Publisher: Read Books Ltd
ISBN: 1447487834
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 91

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Book Description
Hans Reichenbach (1891-1953) was a leading philosopher of science, teacher and proponent of logical empiricism. Reichenbach is best known for founding the Berlin Circle, who were a group that maintained logical empiricist views about philosophy. From Copernicus to Einstein is one of the most highly regarded popular accounts of Einstein's theory of relativity. This book traces the consequences of Copernican astronomy and the advances in the study of light and electricity, then precisely describes the development of the Special and General Theories of Relativity.

Einstein, Bohr and the Quantum Dilemma

Einstein, Bohr and the Quantum Dilemma PDF Author: Andrew Whitaker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521671027
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
"Quantum theory, the most successful physical theory of all time, provoked intense debate between the twentieth century's two greatest physicists, Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. The debate concerned the nature of quantum theory, and the major contradictions and conceptual problems at its heart." "This second edition contains sympathetic accounts of the views of both Bohr and Einstein, and a thorough study of the argument between them. It includes non-technical and non-mathematical accounts of the development of quantum theory and relativity, and also the work of David Bohm and John Bell that restored interest in Einstein's views. It has been extensively revised and updated to cover recent developments, and the account of ongoing work has been brought up to date. A new chapter is devoted to describing the whole area of quantum information theory, from the work of Richard Feynman and David Deutsch that initiated the study of quantum computation to the theoretical and experimental approach to quantum cryptography." "This book provides an account of the development of quantum theory, which will appeal to anyone with an interest in the fundamental questions of physics, its philosophy and its history."--BOOK JACKET.

Einstein Defiant

Einstein Defiant PDF Author: Edmund Blair Bolles
Publisher: Joseph Henry Press
ISBN: 0309096170
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
"I find the idea quite intolerable that an electron exposed to radiation should choose of its own free will, not only its moment to jump off, but also its direction. In that case, I would rather be a cobbler, or even an employee in a gaming house, than a physicist." -Albert Einstein A scandal hovers over the history of 20th century physics. Albert Einstein-the century's greatest physicist-was never able to come to terms with quantum mechanics, the century's greatest theoretical achievement. For physicists who routinely use both quantum laws and Einstein's ideas, this contradiction can be almost too embarrassing to dwell on. Yet Einstein was one of the founders of quantum physics and he spent many years preaching the quantum's importance and its revolutionary nature. The Danish genius Neils Bohr was another founder of quantum physics. He had managed to solve one of the few physics problems that Einstein ever shied away from, linking quantum mathematics with a new model of the atom. This leap immediately yielded results that explained electron behavior and the periodic table of the elements. Despite their mutual appreciation of the quantum's importance, these two giants of modern physics never agreed on the fundamentals of their work. In fact, they clashed repeatedly throughout the 1920s, arguing first over Einstein's theory of "light quanta"(photons), then over Niels Bohr's short-lived theory that denied the conservation of energy at the quantum level, and climactically over the new quantum mechanics that Bohr enthusiastically embraced and Einstein stubbornly defied. This contest of visions stripped the scientific imagination naked. Einstein was a staunch realist, demanding to know the physical reasons behind physical events. At odds with this approach was Bohr's more pragmatic perspective that favored theories that worked, even if he might not have a corresponding explanation of the underlying reality. Powerful and illuminating, Einstein Defiant is the first book to capture the soul and the science that inspired this dramatic duel, revealing the personalities and the passions-and, in the end, what was at stake for the world.

Einstein's Jury

Einstein's Jury PDF Author: Jeffrey Crelinsten
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400849675
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
Einstein's Jury is the dramatic story of how astronomers in Germany, England, and America competed to test Einstein's developing theory of relativity. Weaving a rich narrative based on extensive archival research, Jeffrey Crelinsten shows how these early scientific debates shaped cultural attitudes we hold today. The book examines Einstein's theory of general relativity through the eyes of astronomers, many of whom were not convinced of the legitimacy of Einstein's startling breakthrough. These were individuals with international reputations to uphold and benefactors and shareholders to please, yet few of them understood the new theory coming from the pen of Germany's up-and-coming theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein. Some tried to test his theory early in its development but got no results. Others--through toil and hardship, great expense, and perseverance--concluded that it was wrong. A tale of international competition and intrigue, Einstein's Jury brims with detail gleaned from Crelinsten's far-reaching inquiry into the history and development of relativity. Crelinsten concludes that the well-known British eclipse expedition of 1919 that made Einstein famous had less to do with the scientific acceptance of his theory than with his burgeoning public fame. It was not until the 1920s, when the center of gravity of astronomy and physics shifted from Europe to America, that the work of prestigious American observatories legitimized Einstein's work. As Crelinsten so expertly shows, the glow that now surrounds the famous scientist had its beginnings in these early debates among professional scientists working in the glare of the public spotlight.

Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality

Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality PDF Author: Manjit Kumar
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393080099
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 415

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Book Description
"A lucid account of quantum theory (and why you should care) combined with a gripping narrative." —San Francisco Chronicle Quantum theory is weird. As Niels Bohr said, if you weren’t shocked by quantum theory, you didn’t really understand it. For most people, quantum theory is synonymous with mysterious, impenetrable science. And in fact for many years it was equally baffling for scientists themselves. In this tour de force of science history, Manjit Kumar gives a dramatic and superbly written account of this fundamental scientific revolution, focusing on the central conflict between Einstein and Bohr over the nature of reality and the soul of science. This revelatory book takes a close look at the golden age of physics, the brilliant young minds at its core—and how an idea ignited the greatest intellectual debate of the twentieth century.

The Quantum Story

The Quantum Story PDF Author: Jim Baggott
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191604291
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Book Description
The twentieth century was defined by physics. From the minds of the world's leading physicists there flowed a river of ideas that would transport mankind to the pinnacle of wonderment and to the very depths of human despair. This was a century that began with the certainties of absolute knowledge and ended with the knowledge of absolute uncertainty. It was a century in which physicists developed weapons with the capacity to destroy our reality, whilst at the same time denying us the possibility that we can ever properly comprehend it. Almost everything we think we know about the nature of our world comes from one theory of physics. This theory was discovered and refined in the first thirty years of the twentieth century and went on to become quite simply the most successful theory of physics ever devised. Its concepts underpin much of the twenty-first century technology that we have learned to take for granted. But its success has come at a price, for it has at the same time completely undermined our ability to make sense of the world at the level of its most fundamental constituents. Rejecting the fundamental elements of uncertainty and chance implied by quantum theory, Albert Einstein once famously declared that 'God does not play dice'. Niels Bohr claimed that anybody who is not shocked by the theory has not understood it. The charismatic American physicist Richard Feynman went further: he claimed that nobody understands it. This is quantum theory, and this book tells its story. Jim Baggott presents a celebration of this wonderful yet wholly disconcerting theory, with a history told in forty episodes — significant moments of truth or turning points in the theory's development. From its birth in the porcelain furnaces used to study black body radiation in 1900, to the promise of stimulating new quantum phenomena to be revealed by CERN's Large Hadron Collider over a hundred years later, this is the extraordinary story of the quantum world. Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.

Einstein

Einstein PDF Author: Andrew Robinson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691169896
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
As the book explains clearly, Einstein's dramatic papers of 1905 overthrew the Newtonian worldview and revolutionized our understanding of space, time, energy, matter, and light. His work had impact far beyond the field of physics, playing a leading role in the century's technological advances and influencing modernism in every field. Except for his last interview that was previously published, all the essays here are original works written especially for this book. The photographs draw on an exceptional archive Einstein bequeathed to Hebrew University in Jerusalem. --Provided by the publisher.

The God Effect

The God Effect PDF Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429966017
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
“A marvelously clear and engaging account of . . . the deepest mysteries of the quantum world and [converting] them into a useful technology.” —Gregory Chaitin, author of Meta Math! The Quest for Omega What is entanglement? It’s a connection between quantum particles, the building blocks of the universe. Once two particles are entangled, a change to one of them is reflected—instantly—in the other, be they in the same lab or light-years apart. So counterintuitive is this phenomenon and its implications that Einstein himself called it “spooky” and thought that it would lead to the downfall of quantum theory. Yet scientists have since discovered that quantum entanglement, the “God Effect,” was one of Einstein’s few mistakes. What does it mean? The possibilities offered by a fuller understanding of the nature of entanglement read like something out of science fiction: communications devices that could span the stars, codes that cannot be broken, computers that dwarf today’s machines in speed and power, teleportation, and more. In The God Effect, veteran science writer Brian Clegg has written an exceptionally readable (and equation-free) account of entanglement, its history, and its application. Those interested in the marvelous possibilities coming down the quantum road will find much to marvel, illuminate, and delight. “Clegg does an excellent job of explaining this complex situation in nontechnical terms . . . implications for future technological advances are huge, and Clegg is at his finest as he embeds potential advances in a broad historical context.” —Publishers Weekly “Well organized and succinct. . . . will fascinate [students].” —School Library Journal “Delightful. . . . The author does a superb job of presenting the story of a remarkable concept . . . in a relaxed and entertaining style.” —Professor Artur Ekert, Leigh Trapnell Professor of Quantum Physics, Cambridge University