The Infamous Boundary: Seven Decades of Heresy in Quantum Physics [Paperback]

David Wick (Author), W. Faris (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 29, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0387947264 | ISBN-13: 978-0387947266

"Provides (an)...accurate portrait of the essence of the disputes, both epistemological and technical, that characterize contemporary inquiry. This book will profit any reader-physicist, mathematician, philosopher, or civilian-who wants a comprehensive and intelligible survey of this pesky episode in fundamental physical theory."-CHOICE "I have no hesitation in recommending this book to anyone interested in the history, philosophy or sociology of science, and it is worth adding to the library shelf on quantum theory."-PHYSICS WORLD

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.

Review

...[recommended] to anyone interested in the history, philosophy or sociology of science... -- Physics World

...a comprehensive and intelligible survey of this pesky episode in fundamental physical theory. -- Choice

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Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: Springer (August 29, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387947264
• ISBN-13: 978-0387947266
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,463,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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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!