What is Real?: The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics

Becker, Adam

ISBN 10: 1473661358 / ISBN 13: 9781473661356

Published by John Murray Publishers Ltd, 2018

About this Item

Seller Inventory # U9781473661356

Bibliographic Details

Title: What is Real?: The Unfinished Quest for the ...

Publisher: John Murray Publishers Ltd

Publication Date: 2018

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: 18243348

Signed: 3/11/2025 11:38:32 AM

Edition: 1741693112.

About this title

Synopsis:

Every physicist agrees quantum mechanics is among humanity's finest scientific achievements. But ask what it means, and the result will be a brawl. For a century, most physicists have followed Niels Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation and dismissed questions about the reality underlying quantum physics as meaningless. A mishmash of solipsism and poor reasoning, Copenhagen endured, as Bohr's students vigorously protected his legacy, and the physics community favoured practical experiments over philosophical arguments. As a result, questioning the status quo long meant professional ruin. And yet, from the 1920s to today, physicists like John Bell, David Bohm, and Hugh Everett persisted in seeking the true meaning of quantum mechanics. What is Real? is the gripping story of this battle of ideas and the courageous scientists who dared to stand up for truth.

About the Author:

Adam Becker is a science journalist with a PhD in astrophysics. He has written for the New York Times, BBC, NPR, Scientific American, New Scientist, Quanta and many other publications. His first book, What Is Real?, was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and was longlisted for the PEN Literary Science Writing Award. He has been a science journalism fellow at the Santa Fe Institute and a science communicator in residence at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing. He lives in California.