The quantum labyrinth
Subtitle: how Richard Feynman and John Wheeler revolutionized time and reality
By: Paul Halpern, PhD
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 311
ISBN-13: 9780465097586
Subjects: Quantum theory; Time; Space and time; Reality
Description: "In Fall 1939, Richard Feynman, a brash and brilliant recent graduate of MIT, arrived in John Wheeler's Princeton office to report for duty as his teaching assistant. The prim and proper Wheeler timed their interaction with a watch placed on the table. Feynman caught on, and for the next meeting brought his own cheap watch, set it on the table next to Wheeler's, and also began timing the chat. The two had a hearty laugh and a lifelong friendship was born. At first glance, they would seem an unlikely pair. Feynman was rough on the exterior, spoke in a working class Queens accent, and loved playing bongo drums, picking up hitchhikers, and exploring out-of-the way places. Wheeler was a family man, spoke softly and politely, dressed in suits, and had the manners of a minister. Yet intellectually, their roles were reversed. Wheeler was a raging nonconformist, full of wild ideas about space, time, and the universe. Feynman was very cautious in his research, wanting to prove and confirm everything himself. Yet when Feynman saw merit in one of Wheeler's crazy ideas and found that it matched experimental data, their joint efforts paid off phenomenally"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : A revolution in time; title: Wheeler's watch; title: The only particle in the universe; title: All the roads not to paradise; title: The hidden paths of ghosts; title: The island and the mountains : mapping the particle landscape; title: Life as an amoeba in the foamy sea of possibilities; title: Time's arrow and the mysterious Mr. X; title: Minds, machines, and the cosmos; title: Conclusion : The way of the labyrinth; title: Epilogue : Encounters with Wheeler.