The Infamous Boundary: Seven Decades of Controversy in Quantum Physics 1995th Edition by David Wick (PDF)

Description

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.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: 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)

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book is great with its plethora of historic remarks, presenting a nice account of the development of quantum physics and the controversies around it. It is also very accessible, and, more importantly, scientifically accurate. If you’re looking for a book that is accessible to the layman and doesn’t have crazy stuff in it, this is certainly one of them. It also has the best proof of Bell’s theorem that I’ve seen, very easy to follow (all you need is to know elementary math, in the form of Venn diagrams, that we usually learn on third grade).

⭐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.

⭐The list of issues regarding quantum mechanics is of great use. However this is one of the worst books ever written for presenting clear explanations of those issues. Since it is written for no other purpose than to grind an ax it presents a rather skewed point of view and uses the explanations of such issues as Bell Theorem, the two-slit experiment and Schrodingers Cat, to ignore inconvenient arguments and to muddle the discourse. Primarily Wick wants to discredit Bohr by stating that both he and his followers did not understand their own arguments in the debate with the naive realists as represented by Einstein. This is devolves into a mere matter of censoring the discourse by presenting only one side and is of little interest in the actual debate. This trick very neatly allows him to even present opposing views that are actually germane. He also attempts to discredit the Copenhagen interpretation by assigning it a metaphysical status and then attempts to replace it with metaphysical arguments that favor realism by such ideas as the not much lamented pilot wave. He rather glibly denies credibility to the many-worlds theory, another bit of metaphysics on the par with concept of Jehova. How he picks and chooses his metaphysical explanations to replace other metaphysical explanations is entirely a metaphysical mystery. He gives very short shift to possible counter arguments, especially the most persuasive issues such as Godels Theorem. The value of the entire book rests solely on its list of issues, but at no point does it rise above propaganda, statement by fiat and censorship into the arena of actual discourse. As such, any real use of the book strictly depends on how critical an eye it is read with. It is entirely up to the capability of the reader to supply the missing elements of the issues in question, to supply better or more clear explanations, and to supply a more balanced view.

⭐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.

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