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Author: Kay, Adam Forrest

Quantum physics (quantum mechanics & quantum field theory)

Published on 20 June 2024 by Orion Publishing Co (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 496 pages
47 x 62 x 3 | 734g

‘A LANDMARK IN THE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS’ – Jean BricmontThe received wisdom in quantum physics is that, at the deepest levels of reality, there are no actual causes for atomic events. This idea led to the outlandish belief that atoms – and therefore all things – aren’t real unless shaped by human measurement. Einstein mocked this, asking if his bed evaporated only to jump back into the corner when he opened the door. And yet, quantum antirealism remains deeply influential in science and our culture.

In Escape from Shadow Physics, Adam Forrest Kay takes up Einstein’s torch: reality isn’t mysterious or dependent on human measurement, but predictable and independent of us. At the heart of his argument is groundbreaking research with little drops of oil. These droplets behave as particles do in the long-overlooked quantum theory of pilot waves; crucially, they display quantum behaviour while being described by classical physics.

What if the original doubters of our quantum orthodoxy (not least Einstein himself) were onto something? What if pilot wave theory was right all along? In that case, we may be on the threshold of a scientific revolution in which a century of mystical thinking and learned helplessness is replaced by a rational understanding of nature.