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The Infamous Boundary

Seven Decades of Controversy in Quantum Physics

  • Book
  • © 1995

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Authors:
  1. David Wick

    1. Seattle, USA

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Table of contents (20 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Prologue I Atoms

    • David Wick
    Pages 1-5

  3. Prologue II Quanta

    • David Wick
    Pages 7-13

  4. Revolution, Part I Heisensberg’s Matrices

    • David Wick
    Pages 15-22

  5. Revolution, Part II Schrödinger’s Waves

    • David Wick
    Pages 23-32

  6. Uncertainty

    • David Wick
    Pages 33-37

  7. Complementarity

    • David Wick
    Pages 39-45

  8. The Debate Begins

    • David Wick
    Pages 47-53

  9. The Impossibility Theorem

    • David Wick
    Pages 55-62

  10. EPR

    • David Wick
    Pages 63-68

  11. The Post-War Heresies

    • David Wick
    Pages 69-81

  12. Bell’s Theorem

    • David Wick
    Pages 83-90

  13. Dice Games and Conspiracies

    • David Wick
    Pages 91-102

  14. Testing Bell

    • David Wick
    Pages 103-113

  15. Loopholes

    • David Wick
    Pages 115-121

  16. The Impossible Observed

    • David Wick
    Pages 123-131

  17. Paradoxes

    • David Wick
    Pages 133-151

  18. Philosophies

    • David Wick
    Pages 153-166

  19. Principles

    • David Wick
    Pages 167-180

  20. Opinions

    • David Wick
    Pages 181-189
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Keywords

About this book

reprinted in the British trade journal Physics World in 1990, three separate and 5 lengthy replies from establishment physicists were printed in subsequent issues. For outsiders, especially scientists who rely on physicist's theories in their own fields, this situation is disquieting. Moreover, many recall their introduction to quantum mechanics as a startling, if not shocking, experience. A molecular biologist related how he had started in theoretical physics but, after hearing the ideology of quantum mechanics, marched straight to the Reg­ istrar's office and switched fields. A colleague recalled how her undergraduate chemistry professor religiously entertained queries from the class - until one day he began with the words: "No questions will be permitted on today's lecture." The topic, of course, was quantum mechanics. My father, an organic chemist at a Midwestern university, also had to give that dreaded annual lecture. Around age 16, I picked up a little book he used to prepare and was perplexed by the author's tone, which seemed apologetic to the point of pleading. It was my first brush with the quantum theory. 6 Eventually, I went to graduate school in physics. By then I had acquired an historical bent, which developed out of an episode in my freshman year in college. To relieve the tedium of the introductory physics course, I set out to understand Einstein's theory of relativity (the so-called Special Theory of 1905, not the later and more difficult General Theory of 1915). This went badly at first.

Reviews

"He writes in a clear style with a touch of humor. ... I have no hesitation in recommending this book to anyone interested in history, philosophy or sociology in science" (Physics World, 1996)

"This book tells a fascinating story of seven decades of attempts to shed light upon quantum mechanics. It will be of great interest to chemists, physicists, and others wishing to learn about quantum mechanics and its philosophical and historical evolution." (The Chemical Intelligencer, 1997)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Seattle, USA

    David Wick

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Infamous Boundary

  • Book Subtitle: Seven Decades of Controversy in Quantum Physics

  • Authors: David Wick

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5361-7

  • Publisher: Birkhäuser Boston, MA

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Birkhäuser Boston 1995

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-8176-3785-9Published: 18 October 1995

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4612-5363-1Published: 01 November 2011

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4612-5361-7Published: 01 December 2013

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 244

  • Topics: Quantum Physics, Mathematical Methods in Physics

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