Awards

• Short-listed for BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2009
• Shortlisted for BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2009.

Overview

Without quantum theory our world would not exist. Yet for sixty years most physicists believed that quantum theory denied the very existence of reality itself. In this tour-de-force of science history, Manjit Kumar shows how the golden age of physics ignited the greatest intellectual debate of the twentieth century. Quantum theory is weird. In 1905 Albert Einstein suggested that light was a particle, not a wave, defying two hundred years of experiments. As Niels Bohr said, if you weren't shocked by quantum theory, you didn't really understand it. In 1925 the quantum pioneers nearly all hailed from upper-middle-class academic families; most were German; and their average age was twenty-four. Kumar's centrepiece is the fierce battle between Einstein and Bohr about the nature of reality and the soul of science. 'Bohr brainwashed a whole generation of physicists into believing that the problem had been solved' lamented the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Murray Gell-Mann. After nearly eighty years, Einstein has been vindicated.

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9781848310292

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Reviews

'This is about gob-smacking science at the far end of reason... Take it nice and easy and savour the experience of your mind being blown without recourse to hallucinogens' -- Nicholas Lezard, Guardian 'A super-collider of a book'. -- Independent `...the most important popular science book of the year.' -- Bookseller `Kumar is an accomplished writer... In Quantum he tells the story of the conflict between two of the most powerful intellects of their day: the hugely famous Einstein and the less well-known but just as brilliant Dane, Niels Bohr.' -- Financial Times An exhaustive and brilliant account of decades of emotionally charged discovery and argument, friendship and rivalry spanning two world wars.' -- Steven Poole, Guardian `...it does provide a fresh perspective on the debate.' -- Press Association `A dramatic, powerful and superbly written history.' -- Publishing News `This is not an easy read. There are many concepts that... I could not come to terms with, but this is the biography on an idea and as such read much like a thriller.' -- Ham & High `Quantum is a fascinating, powerful and brilliantly written book that shows one of the most important theories of modern science in the making and discusses its implications for our ideas about the fundamental nature of the world and human knowledge, while presenting intimate and insightful portraits of people who made the science. Highly recommended.' -- Bookbag ``Quantum' is an interesting and informative read.' -- Physics World `That science is a many-splendored, sexy thing is the radiating message that comes out of this fabulous book...a pulsating narrative'. -- Hindustan Times `Probably the most lucid and detailed intellectual history ever written of a body of theory that makes other scientific revolutions look limp-wristed by comparison'. -- Independent `One of the best guides yet to the central conundrums of modern physics.' -- John Banville, The Age, Australia

'...it does provide a fresh perspective on the debate.' -- Press Association '...the most important popular science book of the year.' -- Bookseller 'A dramatic, powerful and superbly written history.' -- Publishing News 'This is not an easy read. There are many concepts that... I could not come to terms with, but this is the biography on an idea and as such read much like a thriller.' -- Ham & High 'Quantum is a fascinating, powerful and brilliantly written book that shows one of the most important theories of modern science in the making and discusses its implications for our ideas about the fundamental nature of the world and human knowledge, while presenting intimate and insightful portraits of people who made the science. Highly recommended.' -- Bookbag

'...it does provide a fresh perspective on the debate.' -- Press Association '...the most important popular science book of the year.' -- Bookseller 'A dramatic, powerful and superbly written history.' -- Publishing News 'This is not an easy read. There are many concepts that... I could not come to terms with, but this is the biography on an idea and as such read much like a thriller.' -- Ham & High 'Quantum is a fascinating, powerful and brilliantly written book that shows one of the most important theories of modern science in the making and discusses its implications for our ideas about the fundamental nature of the world and human knowledge, while presenting intimate and insightful portraits of people who made the science. Highly recommended.' -- Bookbag Quantum' is an interesting and informative read.' -- Physics World 'That science is a many-splendored, sexy thing is the radiating message that comes out of this fabulous book...a pulsating narrative' -- Hindustan Times

Author Information

Manjit Kumar is the editor of Prometheus, a journal that covers the arts, sciences and humanities and has written for the Guardian, the TES and the Irish Times. He is the co-author of Science and the Retreat from Reason, an adapted chapter of which Michael Frayn described as the clearest account I've read yet of the development of quantum mechanics.

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