How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival

From Barnes & Noble

For most readers of history, science progresses at a steady pace, but the truth of the matter is sometimes otherwise. At the University of California at Berkeley, physics seemed to be taking a siesta during the early seventies. Severe funding cuts and faculty inertia threatened permanently to slow advanced research. This precipitous descent into doldrums was halted by a motley crew of eccentric, imaginative, highly energized group of hippy physicists. What they did to transform a department—and the world of physics is the subject of this fascinating book. History of science at its most entertaining and accessible.

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An enthusiastic account of a coterie of physicists who, during the 1970s, embraced New Age fads and sometimes went on to make dramatic discoveries.

In his first book, Kaiser (Physics/MIT) paints a gloomy portrait of his field during that decade. The golden age of Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, Pauli et al was history. The Cold War and increased government support had vastly increased the number of physicists, including many who yearned to explore Einstein-style paradoxes and the nature of reality but were bored by classes which stressed mundane practical applications. In 1975, Berkeley graduate students took matters into their own hands, organizing an informal "Fundamental Fysiks Group." They attracted like-minded hip doctorates, so discussions mixed quantum theory with the latest counterculture delights from LSD to Eastern mysticism to ESP. They received generous media attention, including a Time cover story and produced a flood of publications about the "new physics" including bestsellers such as Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics. With financial support from unexpected sources such as the CIA (worried about possible Soviet PSI weapons) and various young millionaires including Werner Erhard, they explored complex, hitherto ignored areas such as Bell's theorem and quantum entanglement while annoying the establishment by exploring their links to the paranormal. The end result was a transformation in cutting-edge physics and major discoveries in quantum information science, now a thriving industry.

Readers will enjoy this entertaining chronicle of colorful young scientists whose sweeping curiosity turned up no hard evidence for psychic phenomena but led to new ways of looking into the equally bizarre quantum world.