THE QUANTUM UNIVERSE
The Quantum Universe
Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw
UK & Commonwealth rights: Penguin Press
North American rights: Da Capo Press
Publication 2011
All other rights available
Brian and Jeff's first book Why Does E=mc2? began from a very simple starting point: it is not possible to work out whether we are moving or standing still. In a series of small steps, carefully taken, they then constructed Einstein’s theory of space and time. They showed that time travel into the far future is possible, that we all move through spacetime at the speed of light, that time runs slow for fast-movers and from the point of view of a beam of light, no time passes at all. At the heart of the book, they derived Einstein’s iconic equation, E=mc2, and explored its counter-intuitive consequences.
In The Quantum Universe, Brian and Jeff will take the same approach to the world of quantum mechanics. The sub-atomic realm has a reputation for weirdness – spawning any number of profound misunderstandings, journeys into eastern mysticism and woolly pronouncements on the interconnectedness of all things. Their contention is that there is no need for quantum mechanics to be viewed this way (although as they will show, in a very tangible sense, all things are interconnected). It is at heart a simple and understandable theory that allows for concrete, if quite astonishing, predictions about the natural world.
There are lots of popular books on quantum physics but very few which really explain what it is, what made it necessary and why it is so successful. Invariably attempts to explain start with Schrödinger’s wave-function and his ubiquitous cat. Brian and Jeff share Stephen Hawking’s implicit sigh of frustration when he wearily remarked, “whenever I hear of Schrödinger’s cat, I reach for my gun”. There is a lot of mileage in the ‘weirdness’ of the quantum word, but travelling this road leads often to confusion. Brian and Jeff will write a book, pitched at the keen layperson, that explains quantum physics. What observations of the natural world made it necessary, how is it constructed and why are we confident that, for all its apparent strangeness, it is a good theory? Quantum mechanics provides us with a concrete model of Nature that is comparable in essence to Newton’s laws of motion, Maxwell’s theory of electricity and magnetism and Einstein’s theory of relativity. Yet it is rare to see the law of conservation of momentum sighted as a basis for the efficacy of astrology or to promote the sale of mystical trinkets offering protection from electromagnetic radiation. Why has this particular theory captured the imagination of a fringe sub-culture and generated so much excitable confusion?
Brian Cox is a professor of particle physicist and Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. He divides his time between Manchester in the UK and the CERN laboratory in Geneva, where he heads an international project to upgrade the giant ATLAS and CMS detectors at the Large Hadron Collider. He has received many awards for his work promoting science, including being elected an International Fellow of the Explorers Club in 2002, an organization whose members include Neil Armstrong and Chuck Yeager. He is also a popular presenter on TV and radio, with credits which include a six-part series Wonders of the Solar System for BBC2, a six-part series on Einstein for BBC Radio 4, 3 BBC Horizon programs on Gravity, Time and Nuclear Fusion, and a BBC4 documentary about the LHC at CERN, “The Big Bang Machine”. He was the Science Advisor on Danny Boyle's movie, the science-fiction thriller Sunshine. Brian also has an unorthodox background in the music business, having toured the world with various bands and played keyboard with D:REAM, who had several UK Top 10 hits including Things Can Only Get Better (re-released & used as Tony Blair's election anthem back in 1997.
Jeff Forshaw is professor of theoretical physics at the University of Manchester, specializing in the physics of elementary particles. He was awarded the Institute of Physics Maxwell Medal in 1999 for outstanding contributions to theoretical physics. He graduated from Oxford University and gained a PhD from Manchester University. From 1992-1995 he worked in Professor Frank Close's group at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory before returning to Manchester in 1995. Jeff is an enthusiastic lecturer and currently teaches Einstein's Theory of Relativity to first year undergraduates. He has co-writing an undergraduate textbook on relativity for Wiley and he is the author of an advanced level monograph on particle physics for Cambridge University Press.
Cox and Forshaw began collaborating on scientific papers in 1998, and have published on topics ranging from Pomerons to Higgs Bosons. Their most successful paper to date deals with physics at the Large Hadron Collider in the absence of a Higgs particle.
