Einstein and the Quantum : : The Quest of the Valiant Swabian / / A. Douglas Stone.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press Complete eBook-Package 2014-2015
• VerfasserIn: Stone, A. Douglas,
• TeilnehmendeR: Stone, A. Douglas.
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2015]; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Edition: Pilot project. eBook available to selected US libraries only
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (344 p.) :; 18 halftones. 5 line illus.

Einstein and the Quantum reveals for the first time the full significance of Albert Einstein's contributions to quantum theory. Einstein famously rejected quantum mechanics, observing that God does not play dice. But, in fact, he thought more about the nature of atoms, molecules, and the emission and absorption of light--the core of what we now know as quantum theory--than he did about relativity.A compelling blend of physics, biography, and the history of science, Einstein and the Quantum shares the untold story of how Einstein--not Max Planck or Niels Bohr--was the driving force behind early quantum theory. It paints a vivid portrait of the iconic physicist as he grappled with the apparently contradictory nature of the atomic world, in which its invisible constituents defy the categories of classical physics, behaving simultaneously as both particle and wave. And it demonstrates how Einstein's later work on the emission and absorption of light, and on atomic gases, led directly to Erwin Schrödinger's breakthrough to the modern form of quantum mechanics. The book sheds light on why Einstein ultimately renounced his own brilliant work on quantum theory, due to his deep belief in science as something objective and eternal.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION: A HUNDRED TIMES MORE THAN RELATIVITY THEORY -- CHAPTER 1. "AN ACT OF DESPERATION" -- CHAPTER 2. THE IMPUDENT SWABIAN -- CHAPTER 3. THE GYPSY LIFE -- CHAPTER 4. TWO PILLARS OF WISDOM -- CHAPTER 5. THE PERFECT INSTRUMENTS OF THE CREATOR -- CHAPTER 6. MORE HEAT THAN LIGHT -- CHAPTER 7. DIFFICULT COUNTING -- CHAPTER 8. THOSE FABULOUS MOLECULES -- CHAPTER 9. TRIPPING THE LIGHT HEURISTIC -- CHAPTER 10. ENTERTAINING THE CONTRADICTION -- CHAPTER 11. STALKING THE PLANCK -- CHAPTER 12. CALAMITY JEANS -- CHAPTER 13. FROZEN VIBRATIONS -- CHAPTER 14. PLANCK'S NOBEL NIGHTMARE -- CHAPTER 15. JOINING THE UNION -- CHAPTER 16. CREATIVE FUSION -- CHAPTER 17. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING NERNST -- CHAPTER 18. LAMENTING THE RUINS -- CHAPTER 19. A COSMIC INTERLUDE -- CHAPTER 20. BOHR'S ATOMIC SONATA -- CHAPTER 21. RELYING ON CHANCE -- CHAPTER 22. CHAOTIC GHOSTS -- CHAPTER 23. FIFTEEN MILLION MINUTES OF FAME -- CHAPTER 24. THE INDIAN COMET -- CHAPTER 25. QUANTUM DICE -- CHAPTER 26. THE ROYAL MARRIAGE: E = mc2 = hυ -- CHAPTER 27. THE VIENNESE POLYMATH -- CHAPTER 28. CONFUSION AND THEN UNCERTAINTY -- CHAPTER 29. NICHT DIESE TÖNE -- APPENDIX 1: THE PHYSICISTS -- APPENDIX 2: THE THREE THERMAL RADIATION LAWS -- NOTES -- REFERENCES -- INDEX