On Quanta, Mind and Matter: Hans Primas in Context (Fundamental Theories of Physics, 102) by Harald Atmanspacher (PDF)

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INSTEAD OF A “FESTSCHRIFT” In June 1998 Hans Primas turned 70 years old. Although he himself is not fond of jubilees and although he likes to play the decimal system of numbers down as contingent, this is nevertheless a suitable occasion to reflect on the professional work of one of the rare distinguished contempo­ rary scientists who attach equal importance to experimental and theoretical and conceptual lines of research. Hans Primas’ interests have covered an enormous range: methods and instruments for nuclear magnetic resonance, theoretical chemistry, C* – and W* -algebraic formulations of quantum me­ chanics, the measurement problem and its various implications, holism and realism in quantum theory, theory reduction, the work and personality of Wolfgang Pauli, as well as Jungian psychology. In many of these fields he provided important and original food for thought, in some cases going far beyond the everyday business in the scien­ tific world. As is the case with other scientists who are conceptually inno­ vative, Hans Primas is read more than he is quoted. His influence is due to his writings. Even with the current flood of publications, he still performs the miracle of having scientists eagerly awaiting his next publication.

User’s Reviews

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⭐The breadth of implications of this book’s content is indicated by locations of its editors: Dr. Atmanspacher is affiliated with institutes of psychology and of extraterrestrial physics, Dr. Amann with a clinic for anaesthesia and Dr. Muller-Herold with a department of environmental science. These former students or associates of Hans Primas, before retirement Professor of Theoretical Chemistry at ETH Zurich, have assembled seventeen essays to honour Herr Primas on his attaining seventy years of age in a volume published in a series Fundamental Theories of Physics. To set the scene, a preface and three essays are somewhat biographical and general, followed by eight essays, under a heading Matter, that vary in mathematical rigour from Rouvray’s entirely qualitative and historical review of aspects of molecular structure to complicated derivations by Mahler and others fathomable by only some theoretical physicists. On reading or browsing, any reader can, however, obtain some idea about the importance of questions on a quantum-mechanical basis of chemistry that Hans Primas has posed during the past few decades, without definite answers being generally accepted. Professor Primas’s significant contributions to development of nuclear-magnetic-resonance spectroscopy reviewed by Ernst can be appreciated by many physical chemists. Six further essays collected under a heading Mind have a more philosophical bent, being concerned with realism, determinism, holism, freedom and psychology of C. G. Jung; one essay contains an extended analysis of a myth about Oedipus and allusions to other myths. As the book contains several extracts in German and French, a reader unfamiliar with these languages is somewhat at a disadvantage to understand pertinent arguments. The standard of production of this book might have been improved by the publisher; content about page 350 seems rather disjointed because of missing and repeated text. Apart from such flaws and possible deficiencies in English attributable to most authors and editors having been raised in other first languages, the book has a pleasing aspect, with pertinent figures and diagrams to punctuate the succession of text and numerous equations. That the cited articles seem to be somewhat biased in favour of authors and their honoured professor is rather typical of such volumes. In summary this book ought to be appreciated by chemists, thus in the same nominal field of scientific inquiry as Hans Primas, who seek more than a superficial understanding in their views of molecular matter, for which a few chapters illuminate the relation of quantum theories to chemical reality. Through the various eclectic chapters, other readers can marvel at the profundity of Professor Primas’s power of analysis across broad scientific and philosophical fields even if total content from those authors inspired to honour him in this not-quite-festschrift is rather indigestible within a few sessions. By prefacing most chapters with an introduction to define a context, the editors have sought to enhance assimilation of principal ideas in most essays, but highly technical arguments are still likely to tax comprehension by chemists who have likely most to gain from discussion of matter and quanta, notwithstanding mind. Most scientists with broad interests can benefit from serious consideration of various chapters of this book.

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