How the Hippies Saved Physics

Author: David Kaiser
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393342314
Category : Counterculture
Languages : en
Pages : 372

Book Description
Today, quantum information theory is among the most exciting scientific frontiers, attracting billions of dollars in funding and thousands of talented researchers. But as MIT physicist and historian David Kaiser reveals, this cutting-edge field has a surprisingly psychedelic past. How the Hippies Saved Physics introduces us to a band of freewheeling physicists who defied the imperative to "shut up and calculate" and helped to rejuvenate modern physics. For physicists, the 1970s were a time of stagnation. Jobs became scarce, and conformity was encouraged, sometimes stifling exploration of the mysteries of the physical world. Dissatisfied, underemployed, and eternally curious, an eccentric group of physicists in Berkeley, California, banded together to throw off the constraints of the physics mainstream and explore the wilder side of science. Dubbing themselves the "Fundamental Fysiks Group," they pursued an audacious, speculative approach to physics. They studied quantum entanglement and Bell's Theorem through the lens of Eastern mysticism and psychic mind-reading, discussing the latest research while lounging in hot tubs. Some even dabbled with LSD to enhance their creativity. Unlikely as it may seem, these iconoclasts spun modern physics in a new direction, forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to the strange but exciting underpinnings of quantum theory. A lively, entertaining story that illuminates the relationship between creativity and scientific progress, How the Hippies Saved Physics takes us to a time when only the unlikeliest heroes could break the science world out of its rut.

How the Hippies Saved Physics

Author: David Kaiser
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 039334231X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
"Meticulously researched and unapologetically romantic, How the Hippies Saved Physics makes the history of science fun again." —Science In the 1970s, an eccentric group of physicists in Berkeley, California, banded together to explore the wilder side of science. Dubbing themselves the "Fundamental Fysiks Group," they pursued an audacious, speculative approach to physics, studying quantum entanglement in terms of Eastern mysticism and psychic mind reading. As David Kaiser reveals, these unlikely heroes spun modern physics in a new direction, forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to the strange but exciting underpinnings of quantum theory.

How the Hippies Saved Physics

Author: David Kaiser
Publisher: W. W. Norton
ISBN: 9780393076363
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372

Book Description
The surprising story of eccentric young scientists who stood up to convention—and changed the face of modern physics. Today, quantum information theory is among the most exciting scientific frontiers, attracting billions of dollars in funding and thousands of talented researchers. But as MIT physicist and historian David Kaiser reveals, this cutting-edge field has a surprisingly psychedelic past. How the Hippies Saved Physics introduces us to a band of freewheeling physicists who defied the imperative to “shut up and calculate” and helped to rejuvenate modern physics. For physicists, the 1970s were a time of stagnation. Jobs became scarce, and conformity was encouraged, sometimes stifling exploration of the mysteries of the physical world. Dissatisfied, underemployed, and eternally curious, an eccentric group of physicists in Berkeley, California, banded together to throw off the constraints of the physics mainstream and explore the wilder side of science. Dubbing themselves the “Fundamental Fysiks Group,” they pursued an audacious, speculative approach to physics. They studied quantum entanglement and Bell’s Theorem through the lens of Eastern mysticism and psychic mind-reading, discussing the latest research while lounging in hot tubs. Some even dabbled with LSD to enhance their creativity. Unlikely as it may seem, these iconoclasts spun modern physics in a new direction, forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to the strange but exciting underpinnings of quantum theory. A lively, entertaining story that illuminates the relationship between creativity and scientific progress, How the Hippies Saved Physics takes us to a time when only the unlikeliest heroes could break the science world out of its rut.

Groovy Science

Author: David Kaiser
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022637307X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 433

Book Description
Did the Woodstock generation reject science—or re-create it? An “enthralling” study of a unique period in scientific history (New Scientist). Our general image of the youth of the late 1960s and early 1970s is one of hostility to things like missiles and mainframes and plastics—and an enthusiasm for alternative spirituality and getting “back to nature.” But this enlightening collection reveals that the stereotype is overly simplistic. In fact, there were diverse ways in which the era’s countercultures expressed enthusiasm for and involved themselves in science—of a certain type. Boomers and hippies sought a science that was both small-scale and big-picture, as exemplified by the annual workshops on quantum physics at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, or Timothy Leary’s championing of space exploration as the ultimate “high.” Groovy Science explores the experimentation and eclecticism that marked countercultural science and technology during one of the most colorful periods of American history. “Demonstrate[s] that people and groups strongly ensconced in the counterculture also embraced science, albeit in untraditional and creative ways.”—Science “Each essay is a case history on how the hippies repurposed science and made it cool. For the academic historian, Groovy Science establishes the ‘deep mark on American culture’ made by the countercultural innovators. For the non-historian, the book reads as if it were infected by the hippies’ democratic intent: no jargon, few convoluted sentences, clear arguments and a sense of delight.”—Nature “In the late 1960s and 1970s, the mind-expanding modus operandi of the counterculture spread into the realm of science, and sh-t got wonderfully weird. Neurophysiologist John Lilly tried to talk with dolphins. Physicist Peter Phillips launched a parapsychology lab at Washington University. Princeton physicist Gerard O’Neill became an evangelist for space colonies. Groovy Science is a new book of essays about this heady time.”—Boing Boing

Drawing Theories Apart

Author: David Kaiser
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226422658
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 376

Book Description
Winner of the 2007 Pfizer Prize from the History of Science Society. Feynman diagrams have revolutionized nearly every aspect of theoretical physics since the middle of the twentieth century. Introduced by the American physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88) soon after World War II as a means of simplifying lengthy calculations in quantum electrodynamics, they soon gained adherents in many branches of the discipline. Yet as new physicists adopted the tiny line drawings, they also adapted the diagrams and introduced their own interpretations. Drawing Theories Apart traces how generations of young theorists learned to frame their research in terms of the diagrams—and how both the diagrams and their users were molded in the process. Drawing on rich archival materials, interviews, and more than five hundred scientific articles from the period, Drawing Theories Apart uses the Feynman diagrams as a means to explore the development of American postwar physics. By focusing on the ways young physicists learned new calculational skills, David Kaiser frames his story around the crafting and stabilizing of the basic tools in the physicist's kit—thus offering the first book to follow the diagrams once they left Feynman's hands and entered the physics vernacular.

Quantum Mechanics

Author: Kurt Gottfried
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 0429972857
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 398

Book Description
This book contains discussions of radiation theory, quantum statistics and the many-body problem, and more advanced topics in collision theory. It is intended as a text for a first-year graduate quantum mechanics course.

Quantum Steampunk

Author: Nicole Yunger Halpern
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421443732
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Book Description
The Industrial Revolution meets the quantum-technology revolution! A steampunk adventure guide to how mind-blowing quantum physics is transforming our understanding of information and energy. Victorian era steam engines and particle physics may seem worlds (as well as centuries) apart, yet a new branch of science, quantum thermodynamics, reenvisions the scientific underpinnings of the Industrial Revolution through the lens of today's roaring quantum information revolution. Classical thermodynamics, understood as the study of engines, energy, and efficiency, needs reimagining to take advantage of quantum mechanics, the basic framework that explores the nature of reality by peering at minute matters, down to the momentum of a single particle. In her exciting new book, intrepid Harvard-trained physicist Dr. Nicole Yunger Halpern introduces these concepts to the uninitiated with what she calls "quantum steampunk," after the fantastical genre that pairs futuristic technologies with Victorian sensibilities. While readers follow the adventures of a rag-tag steampunk crew on trains, dirigibles, and automobiles, they explore questions such as, "Can quantum physics revolutionize engines?" and "What deeper secrets can quantum information reveal about the trajectory of time?" Yunger Halpern also describes her own adventures in the quantum universe and provides an insider's look at the work of the scientists obsessed with its technological promise. Moving from fundamental physics to cutting-edge experimental applications, Quantum Steampunk explores the field's aesthetic, shares its whimsy, and gazes into the potential of a quantum future. The result is a blast for fans of science, science fiction, and fantasy.

Becoming MIT

Author: David Kaiser
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262113236
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 218

Book Description
The evolution of MIT, as seen in a series of crucial decisions over the years.

Theoretical Physics In Your Face: Selected Correspondence Of Sidney Coleman

Author: Aaron Sidney Wright
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9811201374
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 503

Book Description
Sidney Coleman (1937-2007) was a renowned theoretical physicist, who taught for more than forty years at Harvard University. He contributed critical work on quantum field theory, high-energy particle physics, and cosmology. He was also a remarkably effective teacher who introduced generations of physicists to quantum field theory, mentoring several leading members in the field. His sense of humor and wit became legendary. This selection of his previously unpublished correspondence illuminates changes in theoretical physics and in academic life over the course of Coleman's illustrious career.The letters show the depth of Coleman's activities and interests, including science fiction, space travel, and the US counter culture.The volume also includes Coleman's legendary lecture 'Quantum Mechanics in Your Face.'

The Dancing Wu Li Masters

Author: Gary Zukav
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1448175070
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 482

Book Description
This is an account of the essential aspects of the new physics for those with little or no knowledge of mathematics or science. It describes current theories of quantum mechanics, Einstein's special and general theories of relativity and other speculations, alluding throughout to parallels with modern psychology and metaphorical abstractions to Buddhism and Taoism. The author has also written "The Seat of the Soul".