Quantum Physics for Poets by Leon M. Lederman (PDF)

Description

Quantum theory is the bedrock of contemporary physics and the basis of understanding matter in its tiniest dimensions and the vast universe as a whole. But for many, the theory remains an impenetrable enigma. Now, two physicists seek to remedy this situation by both drawing on their scientific expertise and their talent for communicating science to the general reader. In this lucid, informative book, designed for the curious, they make the seemingly daunting subject of quantum physics accessible, appealing, and exciting. Their story is partly historical, covering the many “Eureka” moments when great scientists-Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, and others-struggled to come to grips with the bizarre realities that quantum research revealed. Although their findings were indisputably proven in experiments, they were so strange and counterintuitive that Einstein refused to accept quantum theory, despite its great success. The authors explain the many strange and even eerie aspects of quantum reality at the subatomic level, from “particles” that can be many places simultaneously and sometimes act more like waves, to the effect that a human can have on their movements by just observing them! Finally, the authors delve into quantum physics’ latest and perhaps most breathtaking offshoots-field theory and string theory. The intricacies and ramifications of these two theories will give the reader much to ponder. In addition, the authors describe the diverse applications of quantum theory in its almost countless forms of modern technology throughout the world. Using eloquent analogies and illustrative examples, this book renders even the most profound reaches of quantum theory understandable and something for us all to savor.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: From Publishers Weekly In their second work (after Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe), co-authors Lederman, the Nobel Prize winning director emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and present director Hill treat nature as a language to be learned, taking readers on a journey from the large to the small, “to a world within our world” and giving them a primer in the language of modern science. Star Trek, Galileo, and Newton and kick things off, and the authors address competing theories of light. Is it a wave transmitted through the ether, or a beam of photons? What could be ancient history comes to vibrant life in an engaging narrative that reveals contradictory experiments that found light to be both a wave and a particle-simultaneously. This led to further anomalies, as Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger, in experiments to determine the precise location and time of an event, challenged the fundamental idea of classical physics and opened the door to probability theory. The authors give the reader a peek into the wonders of modern physics-from early “Eureka” moments to field theory and string theory-in a highly accessible introduction to third millennium science. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. Review “A sparkling and articulate new account of how the quantum revolution changed 20th century science – and, as a further delight, how physics and poetry can speak the same language.”— Chicago Tribune”A little gem of a book on an enormously profound and, in many ways, a mysterious subject….”— Contemporary Physics Book Review”Lederman and Hill, two very well known physicists, have written in a prose that speaks to the poet in all of us. A delightful and illuminating guide through the mysteries of the quantum world.” –Gino Segré, department of physics and astronomy, University of Pennsylvania About the Author Leon M. Lederman, Nobel Laureate (Batavia, IL) is the author of Beyond the God Particle, Quantum Physics for Poets, and Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe(coauthored with Christopher T. Hill), as well as The God Particle (with Dick Teresi). He has served as the editor of Portraits of Great American Scientists and a contributor to Science Literacy for the Twenty-First Century. He is formerly the Resident Scholar at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy and Pritzker Professor of Science at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and he is director emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.Christopher T. Hill, PhD (Batavia, IL) is the coauthor with Leon M. Lederman of Beyond the God Particle, Quantum Physics for Poets, and Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe. He is a theoretical physicist (Scientist III) and the former head of Theoretical Physics at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Read more

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

⭐I’ve read the God Particle and Beyond the God Particle and loved those books, Leon Lederman really knows his stuff. I had this book for awhile before finally picking it up. It kind of has a weird name Quantum Physics for poets what does that really mean?I mostly enjoyed reading this book. It begins covering the history that leads to the invention of Quantum Mechanics going through all of the major theoretical and experimental achievements. One part I had never really read much about but found very interesting was the public battles between Einstein and Bohr related to the fundamental principles of Quantum Mechanics.I will say the last 75 pages or so the book did begin to feel like it dragged on where the author tries to very briefly touch upon modern quantum mechanics, string theory and a few other ideas it just felt a little scattered. But ultimately the book was an enjoyable read.

⭐An interesting and well-written explanation to a “poet” of the quantum physics. I admit to having taken physic courses at Houston U. and Univ. of Southern California and Pharmaceutical Chemistry in which quantum mechanics played some part as well as detailed courses on traditional physics. I have also read “The God Particle” by Leon Lederman so there is some background there. To really begin to understand quantum physics one must be able to do the math since the english language is not sufficient for explanation but from the lay person’s standpoint this book is one of the best illustrations for those of us who are not all that familiar with calculus and probability formulae. Leon Lederman who is an experimental physicist of great fame comes with humor, knowledge, and insight into ways to illustrate very complex ideas to the reader. Also he is able to soothe one’s anxiety over a lack of intuitive understanding of quantum physics by periodically mentioning that no one really completely understands the science….even the brightest of theoretical and experimental physicists. He combines historical figures and their accomplishments with the evolution of quantum theory and reinforces his points with how they arrive at their conclusions. This is a book that goes into just enough detail to enlighten but does not smother with the very heavy explanations that might be in a textbook. The book educates the reader enough to grasp many of the main points of quantum physics but certainly cannot explore all of the science in great depth. A good read, a thoughtful presentation but one needs to read more and learn some of the math and revise the strictures of intuitive thinking.

⭐This book was great for the most part, and to the modern atheist there are probably no problems at all. I am currently getting ready to teach some high school kids the basics about relativity and quantum theory and got this to get a more relatable version. It was easy to read and full of great information. I did find the authors’ frequent references to evolution in a book that deals with the fact that all natural systems gain entropy over time to be a bit, well, biased I guess, and also found it funny that in the same book it points out just how far fetched the chances of this all just happening are. Oh, there are a few more jabs at people of faith scattered throughout the book as well, but if you can look past all of those, it’s a good read that gives a good explanation in understandable terms for the non-scientist who’s curious about quantum physics.

⭐….every one is a poet ? … and Quantum physics ? … a poor description of the history of Physics, complete with sexist, sophomoric Victoria’s Secrets, snide joking. Badly written and badly presented, no guts, step asides, and little commitment….on the classic physics side, but then maybe….not….poetry to demonstrate ? what ? again some references to what but their – ignorance of such….. cheated me out of $20. …sad…..

⭐5 stafs

⭐Not for poets – this book really suffers to find its audience. In less than 300 pages the book covers everything from the history of quantum mechanics to superstring and M-brane theory, so it has to be muddled. The history is sometimes loose – in the discussion of Planck’s development of his theory, the work by Wien and others is attributed to Planck; Einstein is said to have opposed quantum mechanics when what he opposed was the idea of it as a complete theory, and even the attribution to Einstein, of “God does not play dice with the universe” is wrong – he said “God does not play dice” – perhaps a minor quibble, but one expects more exactness, but then again that may be a quantum quotation. The language of the book gets annoying – too many condescensions to the the average reader; the language is often kitchy, the analogies tiresome, sometimes needless. One gets the impression the author is trying to be “ccol”. At times the discussion is simplistic and at other times overwrought and way beyond a poet’s grasp of physics. There are better books. I would recommend Absolutely Small by Fayer as a good introduction. For the best historical treatment, Quantum by Kumar is just great.

⭐It’s well written for people like me – history enthusiasts with curiosity about how Quantum physics works.

⭐Lederman demonstrates his insight into the workings of quantum theory by finding analogies that can only be described as brilliant. The few poets I know might not learn enough to explain the subject to others – but they should get an appreciation for the comprehensiveness of quantum theory in its realm – and perhaps for the beauty that lies in perfection, the exceptional precision with which even experiments that were designed to invalidate or at least challenge quantum theory turned out instead to prove it correct. Poets, laymen, and physicists alike can expect Lederman to show them new ways to look at the nature of quantum theory and, in turn, at how quantum theory describes nature. “Quantum theory for poets” is educational, mind-expanding, and over wide stretches fun to read.

⭐Die theoretische Physik des 20. Jahrhunderts wurde durch zwei große Revolutionen, die Relativitätstheorie und die Quantenmechanik, geprägt, dabei ging letztere wohl mit dem bisher tiefgreifendsten Paradigmenwechsel im Verständnis der Physik einher. Nach Werner Heisenbergs ‘Epiphanie’ Erlebnis auf Helgoland, und den Entdeckungen von Erwin Schrödinger und Paul Dirac, waren die Physiker n unglaublich kurzer Zeit — in den Jahren 1925-27 – in der Lage, die seltsamen Phänomen der Atomphysik, insbesondere die verwirrenden Muster der Spektrallinien, im wesentlichen zu verstehen. Dem gegenüber ist die Interpretationen der Quantenmechanik bis heute umstritten, dies und Äußerungen, wie etwa von Niels Bohr “Wer über die Quantentheorie nicht entsetzt ist, der hat sie nicht verstanden”, fördern den ‘Mythos’ der Quantenmechanik, der jeden Versuch, eine allgemein verständlichen Darstellung der Quantenmechanik zu schaffen, zu einer Gratwanderung werden lässt – die beiden Autoren haben damit aber bereits durch ihre langjährigen Physik Vorlesungen für Studenten der freien Künste, reichlich Erfahrung gesammelt.Leon Lederman ist Experimentalphysiker, für die Entdeckung des Myon- Neutrinos erhielt er 1988 gemeinsam mit Melvin Schwartz und Jack Steinberger den Nobelpreis für Physik; sein bekanntestes populär wissenschaftliches Buch ist ‘The God Particle’ (1983), in dem er die Hintergründe des (damals) geplanten Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) schildert und erläutert. Gemeinsam mit Christopher Hill verfasste er bereits ‘Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe’ und später ‘Beyond the God Particle’.Die Autoren folgen mit ihrer Darstellung im wesentlichen der Geschichte der Quantenphysik: Plancks Quantenhypothese zur Erklärung der Strahlung schwarzer Körper, Einsteins Erklärung des lichtelektrischen Effekts, Heisenbergs Unschärferelation, dem Erfolg der QM beim Verständnis des Periodensystem der Elemente; sie scheuen aber auch nicht vor der Besprechung komplizierterer Konzepte zurück, wie Diracs See, der Entdeckung von Antiteilchen und Feynmans Pfadintegralen, verschränkten Zuständen, dem ERP Paradoxon und der Bellschen Ungleichung, den quantenmechanischen Grundlagen der Festkörperphysik, Quantenfelder, Bosonen und Fermionen, den Problemen der Quantisierung der Gravitation und den Versprechungen der Stringtheorie; sie erwähnen die Kopenhagener Deutung der QM, die Einstein Bohr Debatten, ebenso wie Hugh Everettes viele Welten Interpretation.Lederman und Hill gelingt es, ein fassettenreiches Bild der Quantenmechanik zu entwerfen, die anspruchsvolle Materie wird ohne unnötige technische Komplikationen entwickelt aber nirgends über- simplifiziert; das macht ‘Quantum Physics for Poets’ zu einem der wundervollsten populären Bücher zu QM, dazu tragen auch die Metaphern bei, die die Autoren zur Erklärung verwenden: etwa der QM als Konstruktion einer Theorie der Quadratwurzel von Wahrscheinlichkeiten, oder Spinoren als Quadratwurzeln von Vektoren; ebenso beeindruckend sind die Ausführungen zu Feynmans Interpretation von Antiteilchen als Teilchen, die in der Zeit zurück wandern.Im Anhang erklären die Autoren den quantenmechanisch intrinsischen Begriff des Spin, für Leser, die sich ein Quäntchen mehr Technik zutrauen, näher, und zeigen, wie aus dem Identitäts- Prinzip für quantenmechanischen Teilchen (Austausch Symmetrie), die Existenz der beiden Teilchenarten der Bosonen und Fermionen und ihrer grundlegenden Eigenschaften abgeleitet werden kann.

⭐

⭐Quite an interesting read, with a slightly different take on some of the standard info about quantum weirdness. The captions to some of the graphs though, were incomprehensible without a lot more pondering than the ‘poet’ readers might want to do (or me come to that!) – totally out of sync with the text. I get the distinct (though maybe unfair) impression from this and a previous book I recently read by LL that he is more than a little proud of his achievements, which left a slightly bad impression on me, though not really a criticism of his material..But the main reason for the 3* rating is that although the book is given as being published in 2011 (and there is no copyright page at the beginning of the book to date it from that – VERY unusual, I thought), right near the end he says things like”Among the perceived obstacles to quantum computing is sensitivity to outside noise” – in fact the whole section, including that on cryptography seems to predate the work over the last 4/5 years in these fields (including experiments to turn noise into an advantage, and initial (slightly!) practical results);”supersymmetry may be detected in experiments within the next few remaining years of the Fermilab Tevatron” (it shut down in 2011);And then the real (apparent) giveaway – “yet all computer science, as realised in the best computer available in the year 2000 …” – I don’t think I saw any date quoted in the text that was any later than that.So my impression is that the material had been written some years earlier and then dusted off to make a more up-to-date publication – if that’s wrong then the editing has been a bit shoddy.In summary, a good book for ‘poets’ looking for an initial introduction, but a bad (and misleading, perhaps?) one for anyone looking for a more recent update of the field, a la 2011. As I don’t like being ‘hoodwinked’, I have given it a low rating.

⭐First time buyer for my Kindle reader. I will purchase more books for my Kindle.The book is very well written and anybody that is curious about quantum physics; but can’t handle the math, this book is for you.After you read this book you will have an appreciation for all the great work that physicists have done.

⭐Too bad; the kindle version is a very sloppy job, with poor kerning, missing words. basically unreadable. I wish i had a refund.

⭐翻訳本を書店で購入し、原本が気になっていました。読み比べがとても楽しみです。

⭐

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