Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality

397 Pages·2009·2.32 MB·English

by  Manjit Kumar

QUANTUM

EINSTEIN, BOHR AND THE GREAT DEBATE
ABOUT THE NATURE OF REALITY

MANJIT KUMAR

ICON BOOKS
Published in the UK in 2009 by
Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre,
39–41 North Road, London N7 9DP
email: [email protected]
www.iconbooks.co.uk
Previously published in the UK in 2008 by Icon Books
This electronic edition published in 2009 by Icon Books
ISBN: 978-1-84831-103-9 (ePub format)
ISBN: 978-1-84831-104-6 (BBeB format)
ISBN: 978-1-84831-105-3 (Adobe ebook format)
Printed edition (ISBN: 978-1-84831-035-3)
Sold in the UK, Europe, South Africa and Asia
by Faber & Faber Ltd, Bloomsbury House,
74–77 Great Russell Street,
London WC1B 3DA or their agents
Distributed in the UK, Europe, South Africa and Asia
by TBS Ltd, TBS Distribution Centre, Colchester Road,
Frating Green, Colchester CO7 7DW
This edition published in Australia in 2009
by Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd,
PO Box 8500, 83 Alexander Street,
Crows Nest, NSW 2065
Distributed in Canada by
Penguin Books Canada,
90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700,
Toronto, Ontario M4P 2YE
Text copyright © 2009 Manjit Kumar
The author has asserted his moral rights.
Line drawings by Nick Halliday
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without
prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Typeset in Minion by Marie Doherty
For
Lahmber Ram and Gurmit Kaur
Pandora, Ravinder, and Jasvinder
Contents

List of illustrations vi
Prologue ix

PART I: THE QUANTUM 1

Chapter 1 The Reluctant Revolutionary 3
Chapter 2 The Patent Slave 31
Chapter 3 The Golden Dane 67
Chapter 4 The Quantum Atom 93
Chapter 5 When Einstein Met Bohr 117
Chapter 6 The Prince of Duality 143

PART II: BOY PHYSICS 155

Chapter 7 Spin Doctors 157
Chapter 8 The Quantum Magician 177
Chapter 9 'A Late Erotic Outburst' 201
Chapter 10 Uncertainty in Copenhagen 225

PART III: TITANS CLASH OVER REALITY 251

Chapter 11 Solvay 1927 253
Chapter 12 Einstein Forgets Relativity 281
Chapter 13 Quantum Reality 301

PART IV: DOES GOD PLAY DICE? 329

Chapter 14 For Whom Bell's Theorem Tolls 331
Chapter 15 The Quantum Demon 351

Timeline 361
Glossary 373
Notes 387
Bibliography 421
Acknowledgements 439
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

IMAGES IN THE TEXT

FigureThe characteristics of a wave 6
1
FigureDistribution of blackbody radiation showing Wien's displacement law 14
2
FigureThe photoelectric effect 51
3
FigureYoung's two-slits experiment 55
4
FigureThe periodic table 85
5
FigureSome of the stationary states and corresponding energy levels of the
6 hydrogen atom 100
FigureEnergy levels, line spectra and quantum jumps 103
7
FigureElectron orbits for n=3 and k=1, 2, 3 in the Bohr-Sommerfeld model of
8 the hydrogen atom 113
FigureStanding waves of a string tethered at both ends 148
9
FigureStanding electron waves in the quantum atom 148
10
FigureA wave packet formed from the superposition of a group of waves 216
11
FigureDetermining the position of a wave but not the wavelength; measuring
12 the wavelength but not the position 240
FigureEinstein's single-slit thought experiment 263
13
FigureBohr's rendition of Einstein's single-slit thought experiment 264
14
FigureEinstein's two-slits thought experiment 267