Order, Chaos, Order: The Transition from Classical to Quantum Physics

This highly readable work describes the history, meaning, and importance of quantum physics. It is written for a wide audience of both students and general readers who are interested in exploring the ideas and experiments that revolutionized the way scientists view the world. The book describes the gripping sequence of events that culminated in the quantum mechanical picture of matter pioneered by Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Ernest Rutherford, and Niels Bohr in the early decades of the 20th century. Comparable in its impact to the scientific upheavals initiated by Galileo and Newton in the 17th century, and to the advent of Darwin's theory of evolution, this new science exposed the flaws in the well-established and cherished view of the physical world described by classical physics. In the end, it led to the emergence of four dominant constants in physical formulas: "e", the electron charge; "h", Planck's constant; "k", Botzmann's constant (or the gas constant per molecule); and "c", the speed of light. In telling this story, the author describes the essential features of quantum physics, what sets it apart from the classical view of the mechanical universe, and how the new science has led to unprecedented advances in understanding the essence of matter and the forces of nature. As a special feature, the author has presented mathematical details in separate boxed sections where they can be studied by serious readers interested in deeper insight, or skipped without any interruption to the flow of the narrative. The book is thus completely accessible to nonscientist general readers who will find it an ideal guide to the breathtaking discoveries of modern science that have so profoundly altered our perceptions of the material world.Stehle, Philip is the author of 'Order, Chaos, Order: The Transition from Classical to Quantum Physics', published 1994 under ISBN 9780195075137 and ISBN 0195075137.