Achilles In the Quantum Universe
The Definitive History Of Infinity
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Centuries ago, when the ancient philosopher Zeno proposedhis famous paradox involving Achilles and the Tortoise, he struck at the heart of one of science's most enduring and intractable problems: How do we define the infinite? From then on, our greatest natural philosophers, logicians, mathematicians, and scientists, from Aristotle to Stephen Hawking, have been stymied-and driven-by infinity.
Acclaimed Science writer Richard Morris guides us on a fascinating, literate and entertaining tour of the efforts made throughout history to make sense of the mind-bending concept of the infinite. In tracing this quest, Morris shows us how each new encounter with infinity drove the advancement of physics and mathematics. Along the way, we encounter such luminaries as Galileo and Newton, Tycho Brahe and Giordano Bruno, and the giants of modern physics: Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Feynmann, Hawking, and numerous others.
Beginning with simple logical puzzles and progressing to the latest cosmological theories, Morris shows how these same infinity problems helped spawn such groundbreaking scientific developments as relativity and quantum mechanics. Though in many ways, the infinite is just as baffling today as it was in antiquity, contemporary scientists are probing ever deeper into the nature of our universe and catching fleeting glimpses of the infinite in ways the ancients could never have imagined.
Ultimately, we see that hidden within the theoretical possibility of an infinite number of universes may lie the answers to some of humankind's most fundamental questions: Why is there something rather than nothing? Why are we here?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With wit and insight, Morris takes the reader on a gentle tour through some of the more profound aspects of infinity, something that by definition defies description. Along the way, he introduces readers to many of the greatest minds in natural philosophy, logic, mathematics and science. His approach to infinity begins with simple mathematical puzzles and rapidly progresses to the most recent theories of the structure of matter. As is often the case in science, the readers are left with more questions than answers, but Morris touches on so much of what constitutes modern physics that they will come away satisfied in any case, and perhaps feeling that our universe tumbled down Alice's rabbit hole eons ago. Morris considers the likes of worm holes, black holes, superstrings, relativity and quantum mechanics, and the bizarre possibilities posed by an infinite number of populated worlds in an infinite number of co-existing universes, all of these conjectured by physicists as they push the limits of our understanding of nature. The earliest proponents of such thoughts were subject to ridicule, but today these concepts are up for fair discussion in mainstream science. Not that scientists don't have a sense of humor: Steven Hawking, Morris reports, has proposed a Chronology Protection Agency that would protect citizens from the bewildering consequences of time travel. Line drawings.
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