The decades surrounding the quantum revolution in science have been chronicled countless times. Among the ranks of noted histories, Uncertainty by David Lindley brings a unique perspective of a classic tale. The turbulent period in science marked the evolution from absolute determinism to probabilistic interactions. After this era, entropy did not always increase, only sometimes. By following the introduction of Heisenberg’s famous uncertainty principle, Lindley represents the giants of physics as personable characters, each with their own virtues and misgivings; as human as the rest of us. Through vivid descriptions of interactions and correspondence between the key players, it is clear to see the formation of two main schools of thought.
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As a teenager, Lindley was inspired by science fiction books from authors such as Arthur C. Clark (“Tech”). He witnessed the amazing technological and societal advances that science can encourage. After high school, Lindley trained as an astrophysicist and worked in places including the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Cambridge University. Eventually, Lindley left the world of research behind and turned to science writing …show more content…
Action caused reaction and with enough thought, you could understand the universe. Science thrived under this clockwork universe but, as David Lindley’s Uncertainty chronicles, the era of black and white science was abruptly brought to an end by quantum theory. The idea of uncertainty was not new; there had always been ambiguity surrounding measurements. In 1789, however, Robert Brown introduced a confusing new phenomenon known as Brownian motion, the irregular motion of small particles suspended in liquid. After many years of isolated explanations, Albert Einstein brought the evidence for atomic theory to the forefront. The idea of atoms neatly explained the motion as particles were buffeted by the movement of atoms in the liquid. Soon after, the transmutation theory of radiation, developed by Rutherford, introduced more spontaneous phenomenon. The classical world was at a loss, solid cold science was suddenly faced with probabilistic and inconsistent
As a teenager, Lindley was inspired by science fiction books from authors such as Arthur C. Clark (“Tech”). He witnessed the amazing technological and societal advances that science can encourage. After high school, Lindley trained as an astrophysicist and worked in places including the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Cambridge University. Eventually, Lindley left the world of research behind and turned to science writing …show more content…
Action caused reaction and with enough thought, you could understand the universe. Science thrived under this clockwork universe but, as David Lindley’s Uncertainty chronicles, the era of black and white science was abruptly brought to an end by quantum theory. The idea of uncertainty was not new; there had always been ambiguity surrounding measurements. In 1789, however, Robert Brown introduced a confusing new phenomenon known as Brownian motion, the irregular motion of small particles suspended in liquid. After many years of isolated explanations, Albert Einstein brought the evidence for atomic theory to the forefront. The idea of atoms neatly explained the motion as particles were buffeted by the movement of atoms in the liquid. Soon after, the transmutation theory of radiation, developed by Rutherford, introduced more spontaneous phenomenon. The classical world was at a loss, solid cold science was suddenly faced with probabilistic and inconsistent