Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science

271 Pages·2008·1.1 MB·English

by  David Lindley

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UNCERTAINT Y
Also by the Author
Degrees Kelvin
Boltzmann’s Atom
The Science of “Jurassic Park” and “The Lost World” (with Rob DeSalle)
Where Does the Weirdness Go?
The End of Physics
UNCERTAINT Y

Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr,
and the Struggle for the
Soul of Science
DAVID LINDLEY
anchor books
A Division of Random House, Inc.
New York
FIRST ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION, JANUARY 2008
Copyright © 2007 David Lindley
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of
Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada
Limited, Toronto .Originally published in hardcover in the United States
by Doubleday ,a division of Random House, Inc., New York ,in 2006.
Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Rando m House, Inc.
“Relativity” by D. H. Lawrence, from Pansies
(London: M. Secker, 1929). © The Estate of Frieda Lawrence
Ravagli. Reproduced by kind permission of
Pollinger Limited and the proprietor.
I thank the Syndics of Cambridge University Library for
permission to quote from the Ernest Rutherford papers.
Book design by Michael Collica
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lindley, David, 1956–
Uncertainty : Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the struggle for
the soul of science / David Lindley. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Heisenberg uncertainty principle. 2. Physics—
Philosophy. I. Title.
QC174.17.H4L56 2007
530.12—dc22
2006017029
www.anchorbooks.com
eISBN: 978-0-307-38948-0
v1.0
He is the God of order and not of confusion.
– Isaac Newton
Chaos was the law of nature; order was the dream of man.
– Henry Adams

CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1. IRRITABLE PARTICLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2. ENTROPY STRIVES TOWARD A MAXIMUM . . . . . . . 20
3. AN ENIGMA, A SUBJECT OF PROFOUND
ASTONISHMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4. HOW DOES AN ELECTRON DECIDE? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5. AN AUDACITY UNHEARD OF IN EARLIER TIMES . . . 55
6. LACK OF KNOWLEDGE IS NO GUARANTEE
OF SUCCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
7. HOW CAN ONE BE HAPPY? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
viii Contents
8. I WOULD RATHER BE A COBBLER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
9. SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
10. THE SOUL OF THE OLD SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
11. I AM INCLINED TO GIVE UP DETERMINISM . . . . . . 129
12. OUR WORDS DON’T FIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
13. AWFUL BOHR INCANTATION TERMINOLOGY . . . . . 152
14. NOW THE GAME WAS WON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
15. LIFE-EXPERIENCE AND NOT
SCIENTIFIC EXPERIENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
16. POSSIBILITIES OF UNAMBIGUOUS
INTERPRETATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
17. THE NO-MAN’S-LAND BETWEEN LOGIC
AND PHYSICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
18. ANARCHY AT LAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
POSTSCRIPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249