Conversations on the Dark Secrets of Physics

by Wilson Talley, Wendy Teller

The idea for this book began over four decades ago when Edward Teller began teaching physics appreciation courses at the University of Chicago. Then, as now, Dr. Teller believes that illiteracy in science is an increasingly great danger to American society, not only for our chil­ dren but also for our growing adult population. On one hand, the future of every individual on this globe is closely related to science and its applications. Fear of the results of science, which has become prevalent in much of the Western World, leads to mistaken decisions in important political affairs. But this book speaks of no fears and of no decisions-only of the facts that can prevent one of them and indirectly guide the others. From the perspective of this book, a second point is even more vii viii PREFACE significant. The first quarter of this century has seen the most won­ derful and philosophically most important transformation in our thinking. The intellectual and aesthetic values of the points of view of Einstein and Bohr cannot be overestimated. Nor should they be hidden at the bottom of tons of mathematical rubble. Our young people must be exposed to science both because it is useful and because it is fun. Both of these qualities should be taken at a truly high value.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction

259 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Nick Black]

I really love Edward Teller. His memoirs were similarly fascinating: he's surely the charley sheen of nuclear physics. There's regular footnoted digressions, taking the form of questions from his editors, and his responses. It really says something about Dr. Teller that, for the first few of these, I thought "ET:" indicated the little brown foldful guy and not Edward. He's a true alien. Lots os fresh insight on classic problems.

[minhhai]

Many interesting stories behind Physical discoveries. The author tries to explain difficult topics in Physics in simplest ways. However he does not always succeed, as some parts of the book are still difficult to understand. It's good to read at spare time.