ABOUT THE BOOK
fjrigjwwe9r0pp_Books:Description
Quantum mechanics is one
of the great success stories of modern physics, making sense of the very small
just as Einstein`s theory of relativity made sense of the very large. But, for
most students, the ideas that make quantum mechanics powerful can be confusing
and counterintuitive. This volume in the Greenwood Guides to Great Ideas in
Science series provides a history of quantum mechanics from the early
breakthroughs of Planck and Einstein, at the beginning of the 20th century, to
the present frontiers of quantum computing and quantum gravity. The approach is
entirely non-technical, and is aimed at the general reader who may not have
much mathematical background but who has a strong curiosity about some of the
most important developments in modern science. Quantum Mechanics: A Historical
Perspective traces the history of this powerful theory, including:
·
The early
discoveries by Max Planck and Albert Einstein regarding the quantization of
radiation;
·
The early
quantum theory, including Neils Bohr`s theory of the atom;
·
The birth of
modern quantum mechanics through the work of Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Born,
Dirac and others;
·
Applications
of quantum mechanics in chemistry, nuclear physics, electronics, and many other
areas;
·
Recent work in
quantum computation and quantum information theory
The book emphasizes the
fact that despite the great success of quantum mechanics, many exciting
intellectual frontiers remain open for further researchers to explore. It
includes a glossary, a timeline, and a bibliography of accessible resources for
further research.
ABOUT Author
fjrigjwwe9r0pp_Books:aboutAuthor
KENT A. PEACOCK is Professor of Philosophy at the University
of Lethbridge, in Alberta, Canada. Peacock received his Ph.D from the
University of Toronto and has also taught at the University of Western Ontario.
He has published in philosophy of science, metaphysics of time, and ecological
philosophy, and he spends much of his time trying to understand why it is still
not obvious that quantum mechanics should be true.