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

by Adam Becker

Overview

"A thorough, illuminating exploration of the most consequential controversy raging in modern science." —New York Times Book Review

An Editor's Choice, New York Times Book Review
Longlisted for PEN/E.O. Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing
Longlisted for Goodreads Choice Award
 
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 solipsistic and poorly reasoned Copenhagen interpretation. Indeed, questioning it has long meant professional ruin, yet some daring physicists, such as 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.
 
"An excellent, accessible account." —Wall Street Journal
 
"Splendid. . . . Deeply detailed research, accompanied by charming anecdotes about the scientists." —Washington Post

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541698970
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	09/03/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	173,771
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Adam Becker is a science writer with a PhD in astrophysics. He has written for the New York Times, the BBC, NPR, Scientific American, New Scientist, and other publications. He is a visiting scholar at University of California, Berkeley's Office for History of Science and Technology. He lives in California.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Prologue: The Impossible Done 9

Part I A Tranquilizing Philosophy

1 The Measure of All Things 13

2 Something Rotten in the Eigenstate of Denmark 21

3 Street Brawl 43

4 Copenhagen in Manhattan 61

Part II Quantum Dissidents

5 Physics in Exile 89

6 It Came from Another World! 117

7 The Most Profound Discovery of Science 141

8 More Things in Heaven and Earth 163

Part III The Great Enterprise

9 Reality Underground 193

10 Quantum Spring 219

11 Copenhagen Versus the Universe 243

12 Outrageous Fortune 267

Appendix: Four Views of the Strangest Experiment 289

Acknowledgments 295

Permissions 299

Notes 301

References 343

Index 357

Editorial Reviews

"In What Is Real? Adam Becker tells a fascinating if complex story of quantum dissidents...An excellent, accessible account."—Wall Street Journal

"A thorough, illuminating exploration of the most consequential controversy raging in modern science...[Becker] leads us through an impressive account of the rise of competing interpretations, grounding them in the human stories, which are naturally messy and full of contingencies. He makes a convincing case that it's wrong to imagine the Copenhagen interpretation as a single official or even coherent statement."—New York Times Book Review

"Becker's book is one of the first attempts we have at telling this story in a way that acknowledges how it actually turned out—acknowledges, that is, who won these debates about the Copenhagen interpretation, who lost them, who pretended otherwise, and how they got away with it.... He has clearly done extensive and meticulous historical research."—David Z. Albert, NewYork Review of Books

"Splendid.... With deeply detailed research, accompanied by charming anecdotes about the scientists...[Becker] hopes to convince us that the Cophenhagen interpretation has had too great an influence on physics for historically contingent reasons."—Washington Post

"Becker...make[s] a case for the importance of philosophy. That's a key call, with influential scientists such as Neil deGrasse Tyson dismissing the discipline as a waste of time. What Is Real? is an argument for keeping an open mind."—Nature

"A riveting storyteller, Becker brings to life physicists who have too long remained in the shadow of Bohr and Einstein.... What Is Real? offers an engaging and accessible overview of the debates surrounding the interpretation of quantum mechanics."—Science

"Impressive...[Becker's] strength is the excavation of stories that show how deeply quantum physics was in thrall to the personalities of its developers. The cast is colourful and expansive, and provides engaging drama...The subtext running through this hugely enjoyable book is that, if we still have a long way to go before we understand reality, we may only have our own prejudices to blame."—New Scientist

"A joy to read...For anyone who has been intrigued by other popular accounts of the quantum world but came away feeling somewhat cheated by the Copenhagen sleight-of-hand."—Physics World

"Remarkable...What Is Real? is a superb contribution both to popular understanding of quantum theory and to ongoing debates among experts...It deserves wide attention and careful study."—Physics Today

"Spellbinding....This very book could prove to be a watershed moment for the physics community if it faces up to its own past and its present....If you have any interest in the implications of quantum theory, or in the suppression of scientific curiosity, What is Real? is required reading. There is no more reliable, careful, and readable account of the whole history of quantum theory in all its scandalous detail."—Boston Review

"Becker has done a great service in putting this fascinating story together into a single easily-digestible volume that is gripping, authoritative, and true....I sincerely hope it gains an extremely wide readership and manages to have a powerful influence."—Quantum Times

"A page turner...Becker writes very well...To any one with more than a passing interest in QM, how it came to be the way it is, and how it might be otherwise, this book will be irresistible."—MAA Reviews

"What Is Real? cuts through the confusion, providing a vivid account of this often arcane field, its history, and its numerous controversies."—Gizmodo

"[Becker] unveils a story of the competing schools of thought within the weirdest parts of weird physics."—Popular Mechanics

"Becker...takes readers on a deep dive into the battle for the heart of quantum physics."—Unbound Worlds

"Admirably explains the intricacies of quantum physics...[Becker] brings to the foreground the hegemonic nature of a dominant scientific theory in crushing dissent."—Scroll India

"Tremendously appealing...[Becker] smoothly, easily dramatizes the great debates and the outsized personalities of quantum physics and fits it all into an enthusiastic, readable narrative."—Open Letters Monthly

"[A] fresh debut.... Vivid biographical portraits enliven even dense theoretical explanations with wit and bite.... With his crisp voice, Becker lucidly relates the complicated history of quantum foundations."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"[Becker's] research is as detailed and meticulous...The narrative is enlivened by the personalities of key scientists and physicists....A fascinating revision of pivotal decisions around quantum physics discoveries."—Library Journal

"A useful introduction to the history of quantum theory for scientifically inclined readers."—Kirkus Reviews

"Quantum mechanics is an extraordinarily successful theory, but for decades physicists have been in stubborn denial about what the theory actually says about the nature of reality. Adam Becker's wonderful book recounts the colorful history of the reality debates, and makes the case that Einstein was right all along."—Sean Carroll, author of The BigPicture

"In this immensely well-researched book, Adam Becker explores the little-known history of principled critiques of the quantum physics establishment, tracing a fascinating skein from the Einstein-Bohr debates all the way to the proliferation of alternatives in the 1970s and beyond. Thorough in its detailed treatment of the key players and their contributions, What Is Real? offers an essential guide to the great quantum controversies that are still raging strong."—Paul Halpern, author of TheQuantum Labyrinth

"Quantum mechanics is astoundingly successful, but its proper meaning and interpretation remains an open question that vexes physicists to this day. Adam Becker brings this topic to life by explaining the science, and the ongoing human struggle to make sense of the quantum world. His book reads like a novel."—Art Friedman, co-author of Quantum Mechanics and Special Relativity and Classical Field Theory

From the Publisher

"Figuring out what quantum physics is saying about the world has been hard," Becker says, and this understatement motivates his book, a thorough, illuminating exploration of the most consequential controversy raging in modern science.

The New York Times Book Review - James Gleick

★ 01/29/2018
Quantum physics is “stubbornly mute on the question” of what is real, writes science writer Becker in this fresh debut. Most physicists in the early 20th century believed quantum physics revealed nothing about the everyday world; it was seen as the “shut up and calculate method.” It’s the dissenters to that view who take center stage here: scientist David Bohm challenged the status quo with his pilot-wave theory in the 1950s; Hugh Everett followed his curiosity to the sci-fi–like “many-worlds” interpretation; and John Stewart Bell’s “scathing critic’s pen” led to his eponymous theorem, later called the “most profound discovery of science.” Catchy chapter openers (“It was the Summer of Love in New York City, and John Clauser was cooped up in a room at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies”) and vivid biographical portraits enliven even dense theoretical explanations with wit and bite. Readers trace decades of experiments, alternative philosophies, and surprising drama in the physics boys’ club to three intriguing possibilities: “Either nature is nonlocal in some way, or we live in branching multiple worlds despite appearances to the contrary”—or quantum physics is incomplete. With his crisp voice, Becker lucidly relates the complicated history of quantum foundations. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

04/15/2018
Astrophysicist and science journalist Becker (visiting scholar, Office for History of Science and Technology, Univ. of California Berkeley) here builds a solid case to counteract the typically prevailing (since the 1930s) notion that the quantum, subatomic world consists of a reality disconnected from our own. His research is as detailed and meticulous as a dissertation, though he includes clear descriptions of quantum phenomena using both texts and illustrations. Yet, the book is also personal, as Becker describes how, along with physicist John Bell, he is working to overturn the Copenhagen Interpretation created by Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, a commonly taught theory of quantum mechanics. The narrative is enlivened by the personalities of key scientists and physicists, such as Albert Einstein's preference for solitude despite being sociable; Werner Heisenberg's hay fever that helped lead him to his uncertainty principle; and, the hero worship of Niels Bohr's students, despite his dense lecturing style. VERDICT This fairly technical work offers a fascinating revision of pivotal decisions around quantum physics discoveries. It should appeal to those interested in physics as well as the history of science in the interwar period.—Sara R. Tompson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Lib., Archives & Records Section, Pasadena, CA

Library Journal

2018-01-08
A historical exploration of quantum physics, which "predicts a stunning variety of phenomena to an extraordinary degree of accuracy."The realm of quantum physics is extremely difficult to comprehend. According to Niels Bohr's "Copenhagen interpretation," largely devised in the 1920s, subatomic particles have no definite properties until they are measured. One can only calculate the probability of a certain result—for example, the location of an electron—and the very act of measurement changes matters. In his first book, astrophysicist and science writer Becker agrees with a minority of physicists that quantum physics needs a better interpretation "because it's not immediately clear what the theory is saying about the world. The mathematics of quantum physics is unfamiliar and abstruse, and the connection between the mathematics and the world we live in is hard to see." Until his death, Einstein insisted that this bizarre picture couldn't be correct, but most colleagues disagreed. Becker summarizes the debate and then takes up the cudgel. Einstein's objections never caught on, but successors have had some success. David Bohm and Hugh Everett maintained that particles have specific properties and location, but they also introduced complex concepts such as nonlocality, hidden variables, and a many-worlds view. The leading genius was John Bell, whose 1964 theorem postulates certain phenomena that violate traditional quantum theory. Subsequent extremely delicate experiments proved him right. Quantum physics works, so most physicists don't concern themselves with its view of reality, and the debate rarely reaches popular media. It's a philosophical question whose major figures are not household names and whose arguments do not simplify matters. The author works diligently to introduce them to a lay audience. Readers must put in the effort, but those who persist will come away with a taste of a basic scientific issue that a century of controversy has yet to resolve.A useful introduction to the history of quantum theory for scientifically inclined readers.

Kirkus Reviews