Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science [Paperback]

David Lindley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 12, 2008

Werner Heisenberg’s “uncertainty principle” challenged centuries of scientific understanding, placed him in direct opposition to Albert Einstein, and put Niels Bohr in the middle of one of the most heated debates in scientific history. Heisenberg’s theorem stated that there were physical limits to what we could know about sub-atomic particles; this “uncertainty” would have shocking implications. In a riveting account, David Lindley captures this critical episode and explains one of the most important scientific discoveries in history, which has since transcended the boundaries of science and influenced everything from literary theory to television.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The uncertainty in this delightful book refers to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, an idea first postulated in 1927 by physicist Werner Heisenberg in his attempt to make sense out of the developing field of quantum mechanics. As Lindley so well explains it, the concept of uncertainty shook the philosophical underpinnings of science. It was Heisenberg's work that, to a great extent, kept Einstein from accepting quantum mechanics as a full explanation for physical reality. Similarly, it was the Uncertainty Principle that demonstrated the limits of scientific investigation: if Heisenberg is correct there are some aspects of the physical universe that are to remain beyond the reach of scientists. As he has done expertly in books like Boltzmann's Atom, Lindley brings to life a critical period in the history of science, explaining complex issues to the general reader, presenting the major players in an engaging fashion, delving into the process of scientific discovery and discussing the interaction between science and society. Thus, Lindley presents a very good chapter dissecting historian of science Paul Forman's iconic, if terribly flawed, analysis of the same time period. (Feb. 20)
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Review

“Brilliantly captures the personalities and the science surrounding the most revolutionary principle in modern physics. This book is . . . truly thrilling.” —Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein: His Life and Universe “Charmingly written and a delight to read. . . . Highlights the human element of science.”—The Economist  “Provides a useful précis of the mind-blowing progress of physics in the early 20th century.” —The New York Times“Far and away the best popular account of the development of quantum mechanics I have encountered.”—Michael D. Gordin, American Scientist

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (February 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400079969
• ISBN-13: 978-1400079964
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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94 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Summary of the Quantum Dilemma!, March 12, 2007

By 

David B Richman (Mesilla Park, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science (Hardcover)

The Quantum and its resulting uncertainty has haunted physics since Max Planck first brought the idea up (with a certain amount of distaste) in 1900. Einstein added to the trend in 1905, although he did not like the result either. Niels Bohr at first did not appreciate the prospect, but eventually put his own interpretation on it. Werner Heisenberg followed the quantum theory to the Uncertainty Principle, which essentially tolled the death knell to classical deterministic physics.

David Lindley has produced a new rendition of this story in "Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science." While this story has been told by various authors before, it has never had a clearer or more succinct exposition than this one. Here are all the players, not only Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg and Planck, but the Curies, Pauli, Dirac, Born, Schrödinger and many others. In the end we are left with the triumph of quantum physics, but also with a much more uncertain universe where the old mechanistic model simply will not answer the ultimate questions. Quantum mechanics won't answer them either, but in a quantum universe these questions may make no sense anyway! Perhaps (we may hope)they can't be answered because the questions are not yet properly formulated! Only if we can unite quantum theory with relativity (the unified theory) can we hope to answer anything in a definitive way and this has not so far been accomplished!

Lindley's book is not a comprehensive treatment of the problem, but a short history of the idea and an explanation of why quantum theory matters. A good introduction for the reader who lacks the mathematics (as I do) to deeply probe the field, "Uncertainty" should be read by anyone who would like to understand one of the major ideas of modern science. Among other things, the reader will gain some comprehension of the difficulties involved in the scientific endeavour and of the often complex personalities who practice this arcane activity.

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Philosophy of Quantum Physics, April 14, 2007

By 

Timothy Haugh (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science (Hardcover)

In Uncertainty, Mr. Lindley has written a very user-friendly history of the philosophical changes that came about in physics through the growth of our understanding of quantum physics. As a teacher of physics, I am always looking for books on the subject that are readily understandable by the average intelligent reader. This one certainly fits the bill.

Please note, however, that the focus here is more on theory and philosophy than what might be termed "hard science." There is very little talk of experiments and there is nary an equation in the entire book. Instead, this is a story of theorists and their attempts to interpret and give meaning to the strange things that were happening in physics in the first decades of the twentieth century. Moreover, it is a story of how some of the greatest minds in science disagreed strenuously over these things.

Despite the subtitle, many more names flow through this narrative than Einstein, Bohr and Heisenberg. We also get insight into Pauli, Dirac, Born, Schrodinger, and many others. In fact, Einstein really plays little more than a supporting role here. (I suppose having his name on the cover--and first, no less--means more readers are likely to pick it up.) Readers looking for a lot on Einstein will have to look elsewhere. (Relativity theory is barely mentioned in this book on quantum mechanics.) It is Heisenberg who really is center stage. Not at all surprising since it is his uncertainty principle that gives this book its title.

In the end, Lindley gives us a lot of good history, a bit on personalities and a bit more on scientific philosophy as it relates to quantum theory. He also offers real insight into how the scientific mind works and how theory is hashed out by its practitioners in a way that should be accessible to most readers. Anyone interested in modern physics would find this book worth reading.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant and exciting, September 1, 2007

By 

Herbert Gintis (Northampton, MA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science (Hardcover)

I read two graduate texts on quantum mechanics recently. The first took an historical approach, beginning with Planck's work on black-body radiation, then Einstein's treatment of Brownian motion and light quanta, proceeding on to Bohr's atom, Compton scattering, the Zeeman effect, and so on. The second started out by saying (I paraphrase), "Here's Schroedinger's equation. The rest of the book goes through various solutions, with different potentials."

I find it completely incredible that this little equation can have so many implications, none of them ever having been found to be wrong. Lindley's book is about the "meaning" of quantum mechanics, a project that most physicists consider irrelevant at best. I still remember listening to Feynman's Cal Tech lectures on quantum mechanics, where his urged his student not to try to figure what the equation "means." Rather, he urged them just to solve it and get an intuitive "feel" for how it works. Quantum mechanics doesn't "mean" anything. It just is.

This stance is not enough for many people, including virtually all of its creators, who worked in the dizzying years of discovery, 1900 to 1927. Bohr' model did fit some of the specroscopic data on hydrogen very well, but he spent most of his intellectual (as opposed to organizational) energy thereafter ruminating on the principle of complementarity and the so-called Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. The next generation of physicist could not have cared less. When asked about Bohr's interpretation, Dirac replied that there were no equations, so there was nothing of interest there.

This may be the bast book ever written on the topic, despite its elementary nature. Lindley handle complex topics (e.g., Mach and Carnap) with ease and brevity, yet capturing the essence of the issues. His descriptions are what might be termed "stream of consciousness" physics, because he has the ability to enter and explore highly heterogeneous modalities of consciousness, without ever leaving the physics far out of the picture. After you have read this wonderful book, try Abraham Pais' biographies of Einstein and Bohr. They are more work, but more than worth the effort.