Quantum Concepts in Physics: An Alternative Approach to the Understanding of Quantum Mechanics

by Malcolm S. Longair

Written for advanced undergraduates, physicists, and historians and philosophers of physics, this book tells the story of the development of our understanding of quantum phenomena through the extraordinary years of the first three decades of the twentieth century. Rather than following the standard axiomatic approach, this book adopts a historical perspective, explaining clearly and authoritatively how pioneers such as Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Pauli and Dirac developed the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and merged them into a coherent theory, and why the mathematical infrastructure of quantum mechanics has to be as complex as it is. The author creates a compelling narrative, providing a remarkable example of how physics and mathematics work in practice. The book encourages an enhanced appreciation of the interaction between mathematics, theory and experiment, helping the reader gain a deeper understanding of the development and content of quantum mechanics than any other text at this level.

Genres: Physics

459 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2013

Reviews

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, so if you are already a genius then read Jammer and Mehra and Rechenberg. If you are a mere mortal who would appreciate a guide to the mysteries of QM's history, this is it. You need a good physics undergrad background but not too much else. This is a masterpiece like his other book Theoretical Concepts in Physics. Wonderful illumination. What has always stymied me is the history of the "old" quantum theory and the work that paved the way for Heisenberg's 1925 paper, for example Bohr's analogy between the Einstein transition coefficients or probabilities and the squares of dipole moments of a series of oscillators representing the electron's motion when n is great, the theory of dispersion and the BKS theory of virtual oscillators and ghost fields. Longair does a wonderful job of clearing that up and now I am getting a better mental picture of the whole situation. For me (maybe not for you geniuses) too much is hidden under the modern formalism, which has become a kind of algorithm for solving problems. The question of why these things work is for me still tied up with the history of how they were discovered.