The Cosmic Code: Quantum Physics as the Language of Nature (Dover Books on Physics) (Spiral Bound)

Brief Description:
Originally published: New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982.

Biographical Note:
American physicist Heinz Pagels (1939-1988) was Adjunct Professor of Physics at Rockefeller University as well as the Executive Director and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences and President of the International League for Human Rights.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments -- Foreword -- Part I. The Road to Quantum Reality -- 1. The Last Classical Physicist -- 2. Inventing General Relativity -- 3. The First Quantum Physicists -- 4. Heisenberg on Helgoland -- 5. Uncertainty and Complementarity -- 6. Randomness -- 7. The Invisible Hand -- 8. Statistical Mechanics -- 9. Making Waves -- 10. Schrodinger's Cat -- 11. A Quantum Mechanical Fairy Tale -- 12. Bell's Inequality -- 13. The Reality Marketplace -- Illustration section follows page -- Part II. The Voyage into Matter -- 1. The Matter Microscopes -- 2. Beginning the Voyage: Molecules, Atoms, and Nuclei -- 3. The Riddle of the Hadrons -- 4. Quarks -- 5. Leptons -- 6. Gluons -- 7. Fields, Particles, and Reality -- 8. Being and Nothingness -- 9. Identity and Difference -- 10. The Gauge Field Theory Revolution -- 11. Proton Decay -- 12. The Quantum and the Cosmos -- Part III. The Cosmic Code -- 1. Laying Down the Law -- 2. The Cosmic Code343 -- Bibliography -- Index.

Marc Notes:
Originally published: New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982.;Includes bibliographical references (p. 351-353) and index.; This is one of the most important books on quantum mechanics ever written for lay readers, in which an eminent physicist and successful science writer, Heinz Pagels, discusses and explains the core concepts of physics without resorting to complicated mathematics. Can be read by anyone. I heartily recommend it! -- New York Times Book Review. 1982 edition--;Provided by publisher.;Quantum physics as the language of nature--;Provided by publisher.

Publisher Marketing:
" The Cosmic Code can be read by anyone. I heartily recommend it!" -- The New York Times Book Review
"A reliable guide for the nonmathematical reader across the highest ridges of physical theory. Pagels is unfailingly lighthearted and confident." -- Scientific American
"A sound, clear, vital work that deserves the attention of anyone who takes an interest in the relationship between material reality and the human mind." -- Science 82
This is one of the most important books on quantum mechanics ever written for general readers. Heinz Pagels, an eminent physicist and science writer, discusses and explains the core concepts of physics without resorting to complicated mathematics. The two-part treatment outlines the history of quantum physics and addresses complex subjects such as Bell's theorem and elementary particle physics, drawing upon the work of Bohr, Gell-Mann, and others. Anecdotes from the personal documents of Einstein, Oppenheimer, Bohr, and Planck offer intimate glimpses of the scientists whose work forever changed the world.