Quantum World

by John C. Polkinghorne

"[Polkinghorne] offers much insight in this thoroughly delightful little book into the nature of the conceptual problems at the heart of the twentieth century's most successful theory. . . . I wholeheartedly recommend The Quantum World. . . ".--Tony Hey, New Scientist "A delightful book, written at a popular level but without any misleading over-simplification".--Roger Penrose, The Times Higher Education Supplement "The author's life as well as his oeuvre, especially this lovely little book, bear testimony to the fact that . . . science and nature can coexist in harmonious complementarity".--Abraham Pais, Nature

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 1984

About the author

John Charlton Polkinghorne is an English theoretical physicist, theologian, writer and Anglican priest. A prominent and leading voice explaining the relationship between science and religion, he was professor of Mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1968 to 1979, when he resigned his chair to study for the priesthood, becoming an ordained Anglican priest in 1982. He served as the president of Queens' College, Cambridge from 1988 until 1996.

Reviews

[Juan Falgueras cano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am enjoying it so much I would like to share the feeling

It's a really easy to read book. The quantum difficulties are still there but it's encouraging someone so specialised has the same doubts as you

[Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the book is non technical it does a superb job of talking about the genuine mathematics of the theory and this partly explains the weirdness of quantum phenomena in that the properties of the machinery are reflected in what's observed.

Even if one was determined to skip anything containing words like vector, superposition, eigenvalue, the introductory chapter is a short fascinating summary of the history of ideas about the atom.

How for example the perfectly respectable "plum pudding" model was shot down by Rutherford's explaining the ricochets of alpha particles from gold foils as the result of elastic collisions - like those between billiard balls, between the "nucleus" and the alphas. This orbiting electron model had a lot going for it - explaining atomic ratios in chemical compounds & the periodic table, but it was simply impossible ! So, Bohr to the rescue with a brilliant fudge or massive piece of thinking outside the box ...)

The things that really distinguishes this book from many others is it's brevity & determination to properly explain without the use of mathematics (although he does talk about it) a solely mathematical theory that is unsurpassed in its accuracy, generality (quarks and gluons are quantum beasts although not dealt with by this book) & that has been responsible for a lot of 20th C tech: solid state electronics (transistors) and superconductors and all the applications thereof (notably in computation and communication) would not have been impossible without Robert Noyce's use of quantum mechanics to understand what would be required to produce a Silicon transistor, and so to embark on the massive feat of engineering required to make them.

The Silicon transistor that the Intel Corporation produced was not only the foundation of the large scale integrated circuits at the heart of the ubuiqitous "System On a Chip", but also responsible for the creation of huge amounts of wealth and value in what became known as "The Silicon Valley".

Sadly, texts leave out the discussion or controversy about ideas, and present as self evident ideas that are still disputed (the Copenhagen interpretation), so many such as myself learned a few exam problems and nothing more.

This is a good book to correct that defect and to explain even the maths such as the relations of the Schrodinger equation to the Vector space ideas of "Matrix mechanics" and the accepted (since the 1920s) "modern view". A good complement to one of the introductory texts such as Eisberg and Resnick, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... especially as that one is so long and misses the point in at least a few places (IIRC the Ultraviolet catastrophe is dealt with as the failure of classical thermodynamics to predict the black body spectrum and it presents a longish derivation of the faulty result without clearly saying that it was faulty bc it assumed that energy flows could take any value.)

[E. Kae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the best book I have ever read on quantum physics. Mr. Polkinghorne enlightens the quantum world with the perfect mix of math and simpler explanation. He manages to strike a rare balance: the content is intellectually rigorous, and accessible without being dumbed down. Unlike many books belonging to the “gee-whizz school of science popularisers”, Polkinghorne stays focused on the physics itself. He respects the reader enough to include the mathematical backbone where needed, while still making the material understandable for those without an advanced background.
His perspective is also rooted in faith; as a result, he approaches the subject with a sense of intellectual honesty and humility. He doesn’t stretch the truth for the sake of drama or shock value. On speculative ideas like the many worlds interpretation, he writes, “Reality is not to be trifled with and sliced up in this way.” That grounded sensibility runs throughout the book. Rather than leaning into hype, Mr. Polkinghorne gives the reader a genuine understanding of quantum theory – what we know, what we don’t, and why it matters.

[Tajammal Hussain]

Books written by Polkinghorne have a unique lucidity but still suffers from the well persisting lacuna that is filling the Gap between basic topics of quantum and a solid mathematical formulation. Quantum Physics cannot be enjoyed without learning the basic mathematice devices and collateral intricacies because these intricacies bring too much beauty to the quantum world forcing the governments to spend millions of dollars to resolve a seemingly mathematical problem which has nothing to do with the social welfare of the public but it recreates the nerves of Human race to such depth of roots it transforms the entire way of "scientism".

[Peter Reczek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good an introduction to quantum mechanics as could be expected. A bit too descriptive without a clear foundation.

[Foglienere · Rating 3 out of 5]

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