Imprint: Allen Lane
Published: 25/03/2021
ISBN: 9780241454695
Length: 208 Pages
Dimensions: 222mm x 23mm x 144mm
Weight: 331g
RRP: £20.00
The new book from the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time
One idea, more than any other, has transformed our understanding of the fabric of the universe:
the quantum. Now Carlo Rovelli illuminates its mysteries.
In June 1925, twenty-three-year-old Werner Heisenberg, suffering from hay fever, retreated to a treeless, wind-battered island in the North Sea called Helgoland. It was there that he came up with the key insight behind quantum mechanics. A century later, this theory has given us modern technology and nuclear energy but remains disconcerting, enigmatic and fiercely debated.
Helgoland is the story of quantum physics and its bright young founders who were to become some of the most famous Nobel winners. It is a celebration of youthful rebellion and intellectual revolution. It is a transformative journey. Here Carlo Rovelli, a master storyteller and influential scientist, illuminates competing interpretations and offers his own original theory: the 'relational' interpretation of quantum mechanics, where the world is fundamentally made of relations and events rather than permanent substances. Where we, as every other thing around us, exist in our interactions with one another, in a never-ending game of mirrors.
A riveting voyage, full of wonder and delight, Helgoland revolutionizes our understanding of the universe and our place in it.
Translated by Erica Segre and Simon Carnell
Imprint: Allen Lane
Published: 25/03/2021
ISBN: 9780241454695
Length: 208 Pages
Dimensions: 222mm x 23mm x 144mm
Weight: 331g
RRP: £20.00
Carlo Rovelli is a genius and an amazing communicator. . . What I love about his writing is that it always comes back to people -- people interacting with other people, who are interacting with their world. This is the place where science comes to life
Physics has found its poet. . . Rovelli is a wonderfully humane, gentle and witty guide for he is as much philosopher and poet as he is a scientist
Rovelli opens windows onto the imagination for all of us
Carlo Rovelli's imaginative rigour, his lively humour and his beautiful writing are inspiring
Rovelli is a brilliant and lucid teacher who uses his understanding of theoretical physics and the quantum world to talk about the complexity of our everyday reality
With the publication of his million-selling book Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, Rovelli took his place with Stephen Hawking and Richard Feynman as one of the great popularisers of modern theoretical physics
A global superstar. . . Rovelli is making the grammar of the universe accessible to a new generation