Quantum Dialogue: The Making of a Revolution (Science and Its Conceptual Foundations series)

Beller, Mara

ISBN 10: 0226041816 / ISBN 13: 9780226041810

Published by University of Chicago Press, 1999

About this Item

Near Fine condition hardcover book, Near Fine condition dust jacket. Bright and beautiful gilt lettering on spine, not worn. Slightest bowing to covers. Minute shelf wear to covers. No other visible imperfections. Pages clean and unmarked. Dust jacket unclipped. Dust jacket has slightest shelf wear. Shallow indentations to front. No rips or tears. Jacket protected by mylar. All books are individually inspected and described. Never X-Library unless specifically described as such.

Seller Inventory # 2507-1859

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Quantum Dialogue: The Making of a Revolution (Science and Its Conceptual Foundations series)
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226041816
• ISBN 13: 9780226041810
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

About this title

Synopsis

"Science is rooted in conversations," wrote Werner Heisenberg, one of the twentieth century's great physicists. In Quantum Dialogue, Mara Beller shows that science is rooted not just in conversation but in disagreement, doubt, and uncertainty. She argues that it is precisely this culture of dialogue and controversy within the scientific community that fuels creativity.

Beller draws her argument from her radical new reading of the history of the quantum revolution, especially the development of the Copenhagen interpretation. One of several competing approaches, this version succeeded largely due to the rhetorical skills of Niels Bohr and his colleagues. Using extensive archival research, Beller shows how Bohr and others marketed their views, misrepresenting and dismissing their opponents as "unreasonable" and championing their own not always coherent or well-supported position as "inevitable."

Quantum Dialogue, winner of the 1999 Morris D. Forkosch Prize of the Journal of the History of Ideas, will fascinate everyone interested in how stories of "scientific revolutions" are constructed and "scientific consensus" achieved.

"[A]n intellectually stimulating piece of work, energised by a distinct point of view."—Dipankar Home, Times Higher Education Supplement

"[R]emarkable and original. . . . [Beller's] arguments are thoroughly supported and her conclusions are meticulously argued. . . . This is an important book that all who are interested in the emergence of quantum mechanics will want to read."—William Evenson, History of Physics Newsletter

About the Author

Mara Beller is the Barbara Druss Dibner Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.