Reality and the Physicist
Author: Bernard D'Espagnat
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1989-01-27
Total Pages: 284
ISBN-13: 9780521338462
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book investigates the nature of reality from the viewpoint of a physicist.
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The Creative Power of Chance
Author: Rémy Lestienne
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 1998
Total Pages: 220
ISBN-13: 9780252066863
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn 1859, Charles Darwin used chance to introduce random mutations and selection as the basis for his theory of evolution. Since then, chance has invaded every corner of scientific inquiry. French scientist Remy Lestienne argues that chance is a real creative force and cites scientific evidence for the presence of true chance in the world.
Quantum Theory: Concepts and Methods
Author: A. Peres
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Published: 2006-06-01
Total Pages: 463
ISBN-13: 0306471205
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThere are many excellent books on quantum theory from which one can learn to compute energy levels, transition rates, cross sections, etc. The theoretical rules given in these books are routinely used by physicists to compute observable quantities. Their predictions can then be compared with experimental data. There is no fundamental disagreement among physicists on how to use the theory for these practical purposes. However, there are profound differences in their opinions on the ontological meaning of quantum theory. The purpose of this book is to clarify the conceptual meaning of quantum theory, and to explain some of the mathematical methods which it utilizes. This text is not concerned with specialized topics such as atomic structure, or strong or weak interactions, but with the very foundations of the theory. This is not, however, a book on the philosophy of science. The approach is pragmatic and strictly instrumentalist. This attitude will undoubtedly antagonize some readers, but it has its own logic: quantum phenomena do not occur in a Hilbert space, they occur in a laboratory.
Origins, Time and Complexity
Author: George V. Coyne
Publisher: Labor et Fides
Published: 1994
Total Pages: 340
ISBN-13: 9782830907421
DOWNLOAD EBOOKUnderstanding Quantum Mechanics
Author: Roland Omnès
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2020-12-08
Total Pages: 326
ISBN-13: 0691221928
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHere Roland Omnès offers a clear, up-to-date guide to the conceptual framework of quantum mechanics. In an area that has provoked much philosophical debate, Omnès has achieved high recognition for his Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (Princeton 1994), a book for specialists. Now the author has transformed his own theory into a short and readable text that enables beginning students and experienced physicists, mathematicians, and philosophers to form a comprehensive picture of the field while learning about the most recent advances. This new book presents a more streamlined version of the Copenhagen interpretation, showing its logical consistency and completeness. The problem of measurement is a major area of inquiry, with the author surveying its history from Planck to Heisenberg before describing the consistent-histories interpretation. He draws upon the most recent research on the decoherence effect (related to the modern resolution of the famous Schrödinger's cat problem) and an exact formulation of the correspondence between quantum and particle physics (implying a derivation of classical determinism from quantum probabilism). Interpretation is organized with the help of a universal and sound language using so-called consistent histories. As a language and a method, it can now be shown to be free of ambiguity and it makes interpretation much clearer and closer to common sense.
The Arrow Of Time
Author: Roger Highfield
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2015-06-30
Total Pages: 567
ISBN-13: 0753551799
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn our century, the subject of time has become an area of serious inquiry for science. Theories that contain time as a simple quantity form the basis of our understanding of many scientific disciplines, yet the debate rages on: why does there seem to be a direction to time, an arrow of time pointing from past to future? In this authoritative and accessible Sunday Times bestseller, physical chemist Dr Peter Coveney and award-winning science journalist Dr Roger Highfield demonstrate that the common sense view of time agrees with the most advanced scientific theory. Time does in fact move like an arrow, shooting forward into what is genuinely unknown, leaving the past immutably behind. The authors make their case by exploring three centuries of science, offering bold reinterpretations of Newton’s mechanics, Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, and advancing the insights of chaos theory. In their voyage through science the authors link apparently irreconcilable subjects, from Einstein’s obsession with causality to chaos theory, from Marvell’s winged chariot to that Monday morning feeling. Finally, drawing together the various interpretations of time, they describe a novel way to give it a sense of direction. And they call for a new fundamental theory to take account of the Arrow of Time. Foreword by Ilya Prigogine, Nobel laureate.
The Columbia History of Twentieth-century French Thought
Author: Lawrence D. Kritzman
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2006
Total Pages: 828
ISBN-13: 9780231107914
DOWNLOAD EBOOKUnrivaled in its scope and depth, "The Columbia History of Twentieth-Century French Thought" assesses the intellectual figures, movements, and publications that helped shape and define fields as diverse as history and historiography, psychoanalysis, film, literary theory, cognitive and life sciences, literary criticism, philosophy, and economics. More than two hundred entries by leading intellectuals discuss developments in French thought on such subjects as pacifism, fashion, gastronomy, technology, and urbanism. Contributors include prominent French thinkers, many of whom have played an integral role in the development of French thought, and American, British, and Canadian scholars who have been vital in the dissemination of French ideas.
Philosophy of Science
Author:
Publisher: PediaPress
Published:
Total Pages: 115
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Scientist as Philosopher
Author: Friedel Weinert
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Published: 2005-10-18
Total Pages: 346
ISBN-13: 3540270310
DOWNLOAD EBOOKClearly written and well illustrated, the book first places the scientist-philosophers in the limelight as we learn how their great scientific discoveries forced them to reconsider the time-honored notions with which science had described the natural world. Then, the book explains that what we understand by nature and science have undergone fundamental conceptual changes as a result of the discoveries of electromagnetism, thermodynamics and atomic structure. The author concludes that the dance between science and philosophy is an evolutionary process, which will keep them forever entwined.
