A physicist's efforts to understand the enigma that is quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is one of the glories of our age. The theory lies at the heart of modern society. Quantum mechanics is one of our most valuable forecasters--a "great predictor." It has immeasurably altered our conception of the natural world. Its philosophical implications are earthshaking. But quantum mechanics steadfastly refuses to speak of many things; it deals in probabilities rather than giving explicit descriptions. It never explains. Einstein, one of its creators, considered the theory incomplete. Even now, many years after the creation of quantum mechanics, physicists continue to argue about it. Astrophysicist George Greenstein has been both fascinated and confused by quantum mechanics for his entire career. In this book, he describes, engagingly and accessibly, his efforts to understand the enigma that is quantum mechanics.
The fastest route to the insight into the ultimate nature of reality revealed by quantum mechanics, Greenstein writes, is through Bell's Theorem, which concerns reality at the quantum level; and Bell's 1964 discovery drives Greenstein's quest. Greenstein recounts a scientific odyssey that begins with Einstein, continues with Bell, and culminates with today's push to develop an industry of quantum machines. Along the way, he discusses spin, entanglement, experimental metaphysics, and quantum teleportation, often with easy-to-grasp analogies. We have known for decades that the world of the quantum was strange, but, Greenstein says, not until John Bell came along did we know just how strange.
一位物理學家努力理解量子力學這一謎團。
量子力學是我們這個時代的偉大成就之一。這一理論位於現代社會的核心。量子力學是我們最有價值的預測工具之一——一個「偉大的預測者」。它無法估量地改變了我們對自然世界的認知。其哲學意涵震撼人心。然而，量子力學堅決拒絕談論許多事物；它處理的是概率，而不是給出明確的描述。它從不解釋。愛因斯坦，這一理論的創始人之一，認為該理論是不完整的。即使在量子力學創立多年後，物理學家們仍然在爭論它。天體物理學家喬治·格林斯坦在其整個職業生涯中對量子力學既著迷又困惑。在這本書中，他以引人入勝且易於理解的方式描述了他理解量子力學這一謎團的努力。
格林斯坦寫道，通往量子力學揭示的現實終極本質的最快途徑是通過貝爾定理，該定理涉及量子層面的現實；而貝爾在1964年的發現驅動著格林斯坦的探索。格林斯坦講述了一段科學的奧德賽，這段旅程始於愛因斯坦，延續到貝爾，並以當今推動量子機器產業的努力作為高潮。在這個過程中，他討論了自旋、糾纏、實驗形而上學和量子傳送，經常使用易於理解的類比。我們已經知道量子世界是奇怪的，但格林斯坦說，直到約翰·貝爾出現之前，我們才知道它究竟有多奇怪。
George Greenstein is Sidney Dillon Emeritus Professor of Astronomy at Amherst College. He is the author of
Frozen Star: Of Pulsars, Black Holes, and the Nature of Stars,
The Symbiotic Universe: Life and Mind in the Cosmos,
The Quantum Challenge: Modern Research on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (with Arthur Zajonc), and other books.
David Kaiser is Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and Professor of Physics at MIT. He is the author of several award-winning books on the history of science, including
Quantum Legacies: Dispatches from an Uncertain World, and the editor of
Becoming MIT: Moments of Decision (MIT Press). His work has been featured in
Science, Nature, the
New York Times, and the
New Yorker.
喬治·格林斯坦是阿默斯特學院的西德尼·迪倫榮譽天文學教授。他是《冰凍之星：脈衝星、黑洞與恆星的本質》、《共生宇宙：宇宙中的生命與心智》、《量子挑戰：現代量子力學基礎研究》（與亞瑟·扎永克合著）等書籍的作者。
大衛·凱澤是麻省理工學院的格梅斯豪森科學史教授及物理學教授。他是幾本獲獎的科學史書籍的作者，包括《量子遺產：來自不確定世界的報導》，並且是《成為麻省理工學院：決策時刻》（麻省理工學院出版社）的編輯。他的作品曾在《科學》、《自然》、《紐約時報》和《紐約客》等刊物上發表。
