With its emphasis on the history and philosophical foundations of physics, this book will interest lay readers as well as students and professionals. The distinguished author discusses pioneers in the field, including Pauli, Einstein, Bohr, and de Broglie. Topics include hidden-variable and causal theories, pilot wave, and Schrödinger's equation. 2013 edition.

Beyond the Veil: Unveiling Hidden Worlds is an enthralling exploration of the mysteries that lie just beyond our everyday perception. Delving into the realms of the unknown, this captivating book takes readers on a journey of discovery, as it unravels ancient myths, examines unexplained phenomena, and delves into the metaphysical and esoteric aspects of hidden worlds. With each turn of the page, readers are invited to embrace the mystery and open themselves up to a world of infinite possibilities. Prepare to be captivated by the secrets that lie beyond the veil.

No one has ever seen a quark. Yet physicists seem to know quite a lot about the properties and behavior of these ubiquitous elementary particles. Here a top researcher introduces us to a fascinating but invisible realm that is part of our everyday life. Timothy Smith tells us what we know about quarks--and how we know it. Though the quarks that make science headlines are typically laboratory creations generated under extreme conditions, most quarks occur naturally. They reside in the protons and neutrons that make up almost all of the universe's known matter, from human DNA to distant nebulae, from books and tables to neutron stars. Smith explains what these quarks are, how they act, and why physicists believe in them sight unseen. How do quarks arrange themselves? What other combinations can nature make? How do quarks hold nuclei together? What else is happening in their hidden worlds? It turns out that these questions can be answered using a few simple principles, such as the old standby: opposites attract. With these few principles, Smith shows how quarks dance around each other and explains what physicists mean when they refer to "up" and "down" quarks and talk about a quark's color, flavor, and spin. Smith also explains how we know what we know about these oddly aloof particles, which are eternally confined inside larger particles. He explains how quark experiments are mounted and how massive accelerators, targets, and detectors work together to collect the data that scientists use to infer what quarks are up to. A nonmathematical tour of the quark world, this book is written for students, educators, and all who enjoy scientific exploration--whether they seek a taste of subnuclear physics or just wonder about nature on the smallest of scales.

40 years of science visualization The visualization of often-encrypted data reveals new, previously hidden, but quite real worlds to humankind. Art adopts these insights and uses them to create new dimensions. This book brings together a wide range of contributions on visualization in science, media, and art. Renowned experts and associates of the Science Visualization Lab at the University of Applied Arts Vienna present examples of outstanding and innovative visualization projects and provide insight into their working methods. The book follows a variety of approaches to expanding perception and rendering the invisible visible. “If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.” – William Blake Insight into the thinking and working methods of renowned scientists, media experts, and artists Lavish publication with numerous illustrations and AR features With contributions by Ina Conradi / Mark Chavez, Christian Köberl, Walter Köhler, Thomas Matzek, Markus Müller, Ruth Schnell, Victoria Vesna / James K. Gimzewski, Manfred Wakolbinger, and others

BLUE INK Review STARRED REVIEW Scholarly World, Private Worlds: Thinking Critically About Science, Religion, and Your Private Beliefs Karl D. Fezer Xlibris, 434 pages, (paperback) $24.99, 9781401034146 (Reviewed: March 2014) Informal logic is a discipline that examines the validity of the arguments we encounter in everyday discourse, from political speeches, to editorials, to posts on social media. Karl D. Fezer's work is nothing less than a tour de force of informal logic. This important book investigates under what conditions our beliefs are warranted and the limits of the methods by which we derive them. The author is not concerned with validating or debunking any particular worldview, religious or scientific, but with examining the grounds on which we form the views that we do, in fact, hold. The book's first part discusses the distinction between the views we harbor in our inmost hearts and their extension into the social realm, where we encounter a multiplicity of views different from our own. In the second part, Fezer presents good reasons why we might doubt the beliefs we hold. In his third section, he discusses methods by which we might form views that are worthy of being called rational. The final section covers the differences between science and religion and the limitations inherent in attempts to reconcile competing worldviews. Fezer also contributes to the debate around teaching Creationism in schools. He makes an argument for limiting the curriculum to accounts of the natural world that do not introduce supernatural principles. However, Fezer is not anti-religion, and he discusses both religious and humanistic viewpoints neutrally. The author notes that he is attempting to fill a void in university liberal arts curricula. As such, the book has the structure of a textbook, complete with questions for further study in an appendix. However, it is written in crisp, readable prose. Readers who aren't intimidated by the textbook style will find a cogent, forceful presentation that is likely to challenge his or her convictions in a non-threatening and highly impressive manner.

An expert researcher argues for a revolutionary new understanding of quantum mechanics The received wisdom in quantum physics is that, at the deepest levels of reality, there are no actual causes for atomic events. This idea led to the outlandish belief that quantum objects—indeed, reality itself—aren’t real unless shaped by human measurement. Einstein mocked this idea, asking whether his bed spread out across his room unless he looked at it. And yet it remains one of the most influential ideas in science and our culture. In Escape from Shadow Physics, Adam Forrest Kay takes up Einstein’s torch: reality isn’t mysterious or dependent on human measurement, but predictable and independent of us. At the heart of his argument is groundbreaking research with little drops of oil. These droplets behave as particles do in the long-overlooked quantum theory of pilot waves; crucially, they showcase quantum behavior while being described by classical physics. And that classical-quantum interface points to a true understanding of quantum mechanics and a reasonable universe. A bold and essential reset of the field, Escape from Shadow Physics describes the kind of true scientific revolution that comes along just once—or less—in a century.

This book explains, in simple terms, with a minimum of mathematics, why things can appear to be in two places at the same time, why correlations between simultaneous events occurring far apart cannot be explained by local mechanisms, and why, nevertheless, the quantum theory can be understood in terms of matter in motion. No need to worry, as some people do, whether a cat can be both dead and alive, whether the moon is there when nobody looks at it, or whether quantum systems need an observer to acquire definite properties. The author’s inimitable and even humorous style makes the book a pleasure to read while bringing a new clarity to many of the longstanding puzzles of quantum physics.

This is the only book which deals with the correlatory comparison between hierarchical living systems and inorganic physical ones. The culmination of the book is the proposition of research to discover and understand the natural underlying level of organization which produces the descriptive commonality of life and physics. Traditional science eliminates life from its purview by its rejection of interrelationships as a primary content of systems. The conventional procedure of science is that of reductionism, whereby complex systems are dismantled to characterize lower level components, but virtually no attention is given to how to rebuild those systems—the underlying assumption is that analysis and synthesis are symmetrical. This book fulfills two main coupled functions. Firstly, it details hierarchy as the major formulation of natural complex systems and investigates the fundamental character of natural hierarchy as a widely transferable ‘container’ of structure and/or function – and this in the case of the new development of a representational or model hierarchy. Secondly, it couples this hierarchical description to that of the electronic properties of semiconductors, as a well-modeled canonical example of physical properties. The central thesis is that these two descriptions are comparable, if care is taken to treat logical and epistemological aspects with prudence: a large part of the book is composed of just this aspect of care for grounding consistency. As such great attention is given to correct assessment of argumentative features which are otherwise presumed ‘known’ but which are usually left uncertain. Development of the ideas is always based on a relationship between entity or phenomenon and their associated ecosystems, and this applies equally well to the consequent derivations of consciousness and information.

The Journal on Advanced Studies in Theoretical and Experimental Physics, including Related Themes from Mathematics

Groundbreaking, ingenious and devastatingly clear, Keith Ward’s Pascal’s Fire is guaranteed to reignite the timeless dispute of whether scientific advancement threatens religious belief. Turning the conventional debate on its head, Ward suggests that the existence of God is actually the best starting-point for a number of the most famous scientific positions. From quantum physics to evolution, the suggestion of an ‘ultimate mind’ adds a new dimension to scientific thought, enhancing rather than detracting from its greatest achievements. Also responding to potential criticisms that his ultimate mind is unrecognisable as the God of Abraham, Ward examines our most fundamental beliefs in a new light. Emerging with a conception of God that is consistent with both science and the world’s major faiths, this ambitious project will fascinate believers and sceptics alike.