The Cultural Impact of Quantum Mechanics

Jean Bricmont

The Criticism and Theory Society of Korea, Hyun Seok Lee

J. Manuel, John W. Murphy

Darı́o Gil, Joseph S. Broz, Irfan A. Siddiqi

Robert P Crease

Werner Heisenberg has a lot to answer for. As one of the founders of quantum mechanics, he left a huge legacy to physics. As the inventor of the uncertainty principle, he also left a huge legacy outside physics. Albert Einstein may be more widely recognized by the public – and his theory of relativity often appears in popular culture – but it is Heisenberg who has had the greater impact on public discourse.

Salvatore Califano, Vincenzo Schettino

Quantum mechanics constituted a great scientific and cultural revolution that profoundly changed our approach to the study of the microscopic and subatomic world. The birth and evolution of the theories of quantum mechanics are revived through the personal and scientific history of the protagonists, their attempts and their working hypotheses, the discoveries, doubts and discussions. The substantially counterintuitive concepts of the new mechanics have redesigned the meaning of our knowledge of the world of atoms; particular attention is then paid to the impact that this new vision of the microscopic world has had on chemistry and our knowledge of the structure and reactivity of atoms and molecules.