How Physics Confronts Reality

This book recalls, for nonscientific readers, the history of quantum mechanics, the main points of its interpretation, and Einstein's objections to it, together with the responses engendered by his arguments. Most popular discussions on the strange aspects of quantum mechanics ignore the fundamental fact that Einstein was correct in his insistence that the theory does not directly describe reality. While that fact does not remove the theory's counterintuitive features, it casts them in a different light. Context is provided by following the history of two central aspects of physics: the elucidation of the basic structure of the world made up of particles, and the explanation, as well as the prediction, of how objects move. This history, prior to quantum mechanics, reveals that whereas theories and discoveries concerning the "structure" of nature became increasingly realistic, the laws of motion, even as they became more powerful, became more and more abstract and remote from intuitive notions of reality. Newton's laws of motion gained their abstract power by sacrificing direct and intuitive contact with real experience. Arriving 250 years after Newton, the break with a direct description of reality embodied in quantum mechanics was nevertheless profound.Contents: Some Quantum HistoryRules and InterpretationsEinstein's DefectionFrom Atomism to Real ParticlesLaws of MotionFieldsNew Particles and Their Quantum OriginsAtoms, Inside and OutMethods and Underpinnings Readership: Academics and students in physics and the general public.

Physics: Imagination and Reality introduces the reader to major ideas and the conceptual structure of modern physics, by tracing its development from the introduction of fields into physics by Faraday and Maxwell in the last century. Because the approach is historical, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the subjects. It should appeal to anyone interested in a basic understanding of the contemporary physicists view of the physical world. It avoids all but the simplest mathematics and presents ideas and concepts in everyday language.Physics: Imagination and Reality attempts to provide educated citizens with an understanding of contemporary physics and, at the same time, shows that its ideas have a grandeur, a challenge to the imagination and an aesthetic appeal which merit its recognition as an integral part of our culture.

The essential features of quantum physics, largely debated since its discovery, are presented in this book, through the description (without mathematics) of recent experiments. Putting the accent on physical phenomena, this book clarifies the historical issues (delocalisation, interferences) and reaches out to modern topics (quantum cryptography, non-locality and teleportation); the debate on interpretations is serenely reviewed.

An engaging guide to the puzzles and problems of the quantum universe.

This set contains 3 best selling titles by Roger G Newton, a Distinguished Professor Emeritus from the Department of Physics of Indiana University. The 3 titles enclose within this set are: The Science of Energy, How Physics Confronts Reality: Einstein was correct, but Bohr Won the Game, and Why Science? To know, to Understand, and to Rely on Results. Science of Energy deals with the concept of energy and the laws governing it, as well as its various forms and modes of storage. How Physics Confronts Reality covers the theory of quantum mechanics, science's description of the very small, and what its probabilistic nature means for reality. Finally, Why Science? discusses the essence of scientific knowledge itself, why it matters, and how the great scientists of the past have expanded its range. The books are written in easy language understandable to lay readers and appeal to a wide audience interested in Science.

Preliminary survey of reality -- Ways of arriving at reality -- What is immediately given? -- Departure from the immediate; constructs -- Metaphysical requirements on constructs -- Empirical confirmation -- Space and time -- System, observables, and states -- Physics of discrete systems -- Physics of continua -- Thermodynamics -- The role of definitions in science -- Probability -- Statistical mechanics -- Reality : a first outline -- The breakdown of physical models -- Basic ideas of quantum mechanics -- Uncertainty and measurements -- Causality -- The exclusion principle -- The contours of reality.

Quantum mechanics, shortly after invention, obtained applications in different area of human knowledge. Perhaps, the most attractive feature of quantum mechanics is its applications in such diverse area as, astrophysics, nuclear physics, atomic and molecular spectroscopy, solid state physics and nanotechnology, crystallography, chemistry, biotechnology, information theory, electronic engineering... This book is the result of an international attempt written by invited authors from over the world to response daily growing needs in this area. We do not believe that this book can cover all area of application of quantum mechanics but wish to be a good reference for graduate students and researchers.

This book presents quantum theory as a theory based on new relationships among matter, thought, and experimental technology, as against those previously found in physics, relationships that also redefine those between mathematics and physics in quantum theory. The argument of the book is based on its title concept, reality without realism (RWR), and in the corresponding view, the RWR view, of quantum theory. The book considers, from this perspective, the thinking of Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and Dirac, with the aim of bringing together the philosophy and history of quantum theory. With quantum theory, the book argues, the architecture of thought in theoretical physics was radically changed by the irreducible role of experimental technology in the constitution of physical phenomena, accordingly, no longer defined independently by matter alone, as they were in classical physics or relativity. Or so it appeared. For, quantum theory, the book further argues, made us realize that experimental technology, beginning with that of our bodies, irreducibly shapes all physical phenomena, and thus makes us rethink the relationships among matter, thought, and technology in all of physics.