The Infamous Boundary: Seven Decades of Controversy in Quantum Physics [Hardcover]

David Wick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 18, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0817637850 | ISBN-13: 978-0817637859 | Edition: 1

Most physicists today accept quantum mechanics as the basis of their science. But many scientists of high renown over the past seventy years, even Einstein as late as 1955, refused to accept the theory in its entirety. From the time in 1927 when Born and Heisenberg pronounced it as "a complete theory" to as recently as 1989 when Bell charged it with dividing the world of physics, the controversy has bubbled and sometimes boiled over. The author of this book has traced the major lines of argument over those years in a most engaging style with clear descriptions of the concepts and ideas. The book can be read with a little or no background in mathematics and physics. It will be of particular interest to people who think about the philosophical underpinnings of science and its historical development. Contents: Introduction - Prologue, Part I: Atoms -Prologue, Part II: Quanta - Revolution, Part I: Heisenberg`s Matrices - Revolution, Part II: Schrödinger's Waves - Uncertainty - Complementaries - The Debate Begins - The Impossibility Thoerem - EPR - The Post-War Heresies - Bell's Theorem - Dice-Games and Conspiracies - Testing Bell - Loopholes - The Impossible Observed - Paradoxes - Philosophies - Principles - Opinions - Speculations - Postscript - Appendix - Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This work starts with the development of quantum theory, which the author refers to as the history of an intellectual struggle, and leads up to the controversies surrounding it. In order to provide the complete picture, Wick, a mathematician by training, presents a brief biography and a synopsis of the philosophy of various scientists as they feature in this history. Wick keeps the equations to a minimum, writing in lay readers' terms, but includes a 52-page mathematical appendix by William G. Faris entitled "Probability in Quantum Mechanics." Extensive notes and references are included as well. Though it is very readable, this book is still complicated because of its technical subject matter, which gears it toward scientists and interested lay readers. Recommended for all science libraries with physics and mathematics collections.?Jayashri Nagaraja, Engineering Lib., Princeton Univ., N.J.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"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)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Birkhäuser Boston; 1 edition (October 18, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0817637850
• ISBN-13: 978-0817637859
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,709,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great exposition of the quantum controversy, September 5, 1998

By 

Luis DaSilva "A venezuelan for freedom" (Miami, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Infamous Boundary: Seven Decades of Controversy in Quantum Physics (Hardcover)

This book is by far the best layman's description I have read of the controversy surrounding Quantum Physics. After honestly stating his own position in the debate (against the Copenhagen Orthodoxy), Wick introduces the main points of the controversy by describing how the theory was developed and the scientific and phylosophical backgrounds of its creators. Good descriptions of issues such as complementarity, the uncertainty principle, the measurement problem, and the problem of properties make this book particularly informative. Specially interesting is Wick's description of the line of debate started by the EPR experiment, continued by such great scientists as Bohm and Bell, and not yet completed. The only thing that I miss is a good discussion of the supperposition principle.

Wick's book is written very clearly, and while it does not require previous knowledge of the subject, it is full of strictly scientific information. You will not find here any pseudoscientific speculations on paranormal phenomena nor religion, which are so common in other popular books on the subject. On the other hand, the science and its interpretations are very well illustrated by clear descriptions and historical anecdotes which make the book a relatively easy read.

After reading about this subject from books as diverse as Popper's "Quantum Theory and the schism in physics" and Gribbin's "In search of Schrodinger's Cat", I was very impressed with Wick's ability to produce this engaging, accurate and though-provoking portrait of the longstanding discussion on quantum theory and its relation to how reality might be.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent historical review, redressing the balance..., October 23, 2000

By 

R. Ball (London W14, England United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Infamous Boundary: Seven Decades of Heresy in Quantum Physics (Paperback)

A detailed historical analysis of the Einstein-Bohr debate covering all the contemporary and subsequent contributors and concentrating mainly on the EPR controversy, Bell's theorem and the experimental tests to date. Convincingly overturns the still prevailing myth that Bohr 'won' the argument by refuting Einstein's scepticism. This falsehood was propagated by Bohr's numerous and overenthusiastic disciples and unfortunately has been perpetuated ever since in virtually all the standard QM textbooks. In fact, as Wick's extensive quotations and commentary show, it was Einstein's arguments that were presented with great clarity and rigour, whereas Bohr was unable to confront them directly and invariably relied on metaphysical and psychological waffle to cloud the issue. It is quite clear from the numerous extracts from Bohr's responses that not only could none of his contemporaries understand what he was talking about but that he didn't either! One weakness is Wick's rather confusing explanation of the probabilities involved in Bell's theorem which have been much better presented elsewhere (eg. in Mermin's book or in Penrose - 'The Emperor's New Mind'), but this is more than compensated by the excellent lengthy appendix by William Faris that gives the clearest analysis of Bell's theorem I have seen so far.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, December 15, 2001

By 

Maurice de Gosson (Sweden and Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Infamous Boundary: Seven Decades of Heresy in Quantum Physics (Paperback)

This lucid book is one of the first that really ridiculizes all the paranoid proponents of the various interpretentional dogma that infest and plague quantum mechanics. Bravo, David!