Paradox Lost: Images of the Quantum [Paperback]

Medical scientists use the word `iatrogenic' to refer to disabilities that are the consequence of medical treatment. We believe that some such word might be coined to refer to philosophical difficulties for which philosophers themselves are responsible Sir Peter Medawar Arguing that quantum theory as it stands is perhaps the most comprehensive, well-verified, and successful theory in the history of science, the author clears away the impression that it is an incomplete, philosophically flawed, and self-contradictory theory. In simple terms accessible to anyone with a little prior knowledge of science, Wallace examines the numerous paradoxes and difficulties claimed for quantum mechanics, and shows that they are due to excesses of interpretation that have been imposed on the theory. Medical scientists use the word `iatrogenic' to refer to disabilities that are the consequence of medical treatment. We believe that some such word might be coined to refer to philosophical difficulties for which philosophers themselves are responsible Sir Peter Medawar Arguing that quantum theory as it stands is perhaps the most comprehensive, well-verified, and successful theory in the history of science, the author clears away the impression that it is an incomplete, philosophically flawed, and self-contradictory theory. In simple terms accessible to anyone with a little prior knowledge of science, Wallace examines the numerous paradoxes and difficulties claimed for quantum mechanics, and shows that they are due to excesses of interpretation that have been imposed on the theory.1. Introduction.- 2. Beyond the Ether.- 3. Introduction to Quantum Mechanics.- 4. Analysis of the Photoelectric Effect.- 5. De Broglie and Electron Waves.- 5.1. Amplitude, Phase, and Interference.- 6. The Wave Function and Feynmans Two-Slit Experiment.- 7. The Pauli Exclusion Principle: the Identity of Particles.- 8. The Schrodinger Wave Equation and the Hydrogen l³