You Are Wrong, Mr Einstein!
Newton, Einstein, Heisenberg and Feynman Discussing Quantum Mechanics
by Harald Fritzsch
Mem. Ed. $27.99
Pub. Ed. $35.00
You pay $1.99
You Are Wrong, Mr Einstein!
Imagine if Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, and Richard Feynman could meet and hold a series of conversations on the nature of quantum theory. In You Are Wrong, Mr. Einstein! Harald Fritzsch has envisioned just such a meeting of the minds, and it is an enlightening experience indeed.
Moderated by Fritzsch’s fictional alter ego, Professor Adrian Haller, the quartet of geniuses explores everything from wave-particle duality to the nature of quarks and gluons. Heisenberg and Feynman find quantum physics fascinating and necessary for understanding the behavior of atoms; Einstein dislikes it; and Newton, at first, naturally does not understand it, but learns quickly.
The imagined conversations in the book, which take place over the course of a few days, generally trace the field of quantum theory chronologically. The men begin with the Planck hypothesis regarding the nature of blackbody radiation, following this with Niels Bohr’s ideas on the structure of the hydrogen atom. From there, the men debate the duality between particles and waves as envisioned by Louis de Broglie. Finally, they come to modern quantum mechanics.
Why do the fundamental particles have the specific masses that they do? Do neutrinos have mass, and if so, what are the implications? How did Feynman, together with Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger, and Freeman Dyson, elucidate the interaction of electrons and photons? These are among the questions the men debate, along with the details of forces at work in the subatomic world and the relation between relativity and quantum theory.
By suggesting how four great physicists would debate quantum theory among themselves, You Are Wrong, Mr. Einstein! will sharpen your own understanding.
Hardcover : 200 pages
Publisher: World Scientific Publications ( February 18, 2011 )
Item #: 13-458048
ISBN: 9789814324991
Product Dimensions: 6.0 x 9.0 inches
Product Weight: 17.0 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Copyright © Bookspan. Scientific American® is a registered trademark, used under license. Unauthorized use prohibited. All rights reserved.
45007201205ADFL
Card Security Code
The card security code is an added safeguard for your credit/debit card purchases. Depending on the type of card you use, it is either a three- or four-digit number printed on the back or front of your credit/debit card, separate from your credit/debit card number. To make shopping at Scientific American Book Club® even more secure, we require that you enter this number each time you make a credit/debit card purchase. Please note that your security code will not be stored with us even if you have saved your credit/debit card information.
