Achilles in the Quantum Universe: The Definitive History of Infinity

Description: Achilles in the Quantum Universe The Definitive History of Infinity by Richard Morris Henry Holt, 1997, 0805047794, Hardcover, Dust Jacket, Fine/Fine condition, no underlining, no highlighting, like new condition. 224 pages. Centuries ago, when the ancient philosopher Zeno proposed his famous para¬dox involving Achilles and the Tortoise, he struck at the heart of one of science's most enduring and intractable problems: How do we define the infinite? From then on, our greatest natural philosophers, logicians, mathematicians, and scientists, from Aristotle to Stephen Hawking, have been stymied—and driven—by infinity. Acclaimed science writer Richard Morris guides us on a fascinating, literate, and entertaining tour of the efforts made throughout history to make sense of the mind-bending concept of the infinite. In tracing this quest, Morris shows us how each new encounter with infinity drove the advancement of physics and mathematics. Along the way, we encounter such luminaries as Galileo and Newton, Tycho Brahe and Giordano Bruno, and the giants of modern physics: Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Feynmann, Hawking, and numerous others. Beginning with simple logical puzzles and progressing to the latest cosmological theories, Morris shows how these same infinity problems helped spawn such groundbreaking scientific developments as relativity and quantum mechanics. Though in many ways, the infinite is just as baffling today as it was in antiquity, contemporary scientists are probing ever deeper into the nature of our universe and catching fleeting glimpses of the infinite in ways the ancients could never have imagined. Ultimately, we see that hidden within the theoretical possibility of an infinite number of universes may lie the answers to some of humankind's most fundamental questions: Why is there something rather than nothing? Why are we here? RICHARD MORRIS is the author of nearly a dozen books explaining the wonders and intricacies of the scientific world. Among these are Time's Arrows, The Edges of Science, The Nature of Reality, and Cosmic Questions. He lives in San Francisco. CONTENTS Preface ix 1 • The Paradoxical Nature of Infinity 1 2 • Infinite Time 17 3 • Infinite Worlds 32 4 • The Infinitely Small 54 5 • Atomic Catastrophe 71 6 • Electrons Have Infinite Mass 95 7 • There Was a Young Lady Named Bright 120 8 • Singularities 140 9 • Is the Universe Finite, Infinite, or Imaginary? 158 10 • Infinite Worlds 184 11 • [Infinity] 203 Index 209 nthdegree books

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