Experimental Blog #107

Comments on "Quantum - Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality" by Manjit Kumar

Besides contributors to quantum theory written about by Gino Segre' in his book, "Faust in Copenhagen - A Struggle for the Soul of Physics", commented on in the previous blog #106; the author of this book, Manjit Kumar, adds 3 more physicists to his list of the top 10 contributors to quantum theory. They are: Ernest Rutherford, another Englishman, but from New Zealand; Max Born of Germany; and Louis de Broglie from France.

It seems quite obvious that if someone really wants to understand very much physics, and especially the advanced physics of electromagnetism, relativity, and quantum mechanics, they have to be well acquainted with a lot of mathematics. Beyond the usual algebra, plane and solid geometry, and trigonometry; they must know differential and integral calculus, probability and statistics, differential equations, tensor calculus{which is also called differential geometry}, matrix algebra, complex numbers, and how these are all applied, and maybe more besides.

This would be a curriculum beyond the ability of most people, but in the whole world there must be thousands of people who are capable of mastering it, and relativity and quantum mechanics too.

Although most physicists say that Albert Einstein was the most outstanding theoretical physicist of his time, and some people say of all time; Manjit Kumar reveals that it is questionable that he should be seen as genuinely "saintly".

The leading edges of modern, or advanced, physics might be described as "science fiction that works". That is, it is almost pure imagination, but it consistently explains a great amount of scientific facts, sometimes called "data"; and it makes predictions that can be tested and confirmed.