Bernstein J. Quantum profiles

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Quantum Proﬁles

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Quantum Proﬁles

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JEREMY BERNSTEIN

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY

Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,

Princeton, New Jersey 08540

In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Oxford

‘‘Besso’’ originally appeared in the New Yorker,

in slightly different form, as A CRITIC AT LARGE.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bernstein, Jeremy, 1929–

Quantum profiles / Jeremy Bernstein

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-691-08725-3 (alk. paper)

1. Quantum Theory. 2. Physicists—Interviews.

3. Physicists—Biography. I. Title.

QC174.12.B464 1991

530.1′2′0922—dc20 90-40843

This book has been composed in Adobe Laser Janson

Princeton University Press books are

printed on acid-free paper, and meet the guidelines

for permanence and durability of the Committee

on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity

of the Council on Library Resources

Printed in the United States of America by

Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey

57910864

✜ Contents ✜

Preface vii

John Stewart Bell: Quantum Engineer 3

Epilogue 90

John Wheeler: Retarded Learner 93

Epilogue 135

Besso 143

Select Bibliography 167

Index 169

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✜ Preface ✜

SOME YEARS AGO I had a number of conversations with the

late I. I. Rabi about his life and work. Toward the end of our

talks, Rabi expressed his unhappiness at the fact that the revolu-

tion in physics—above all, the quantum revolution—appeared to

be having such a small impact on our general cultural life. As he

put it, ‘‘It’s a great pity that the general public has very little ink-

ling of the tremendous excitement—intellectual and emotional

excitement—that goes on in the advanced ﬁelds of physics.’’ Nei-

ther Rabi nor I had any idea how rapidly this would change. We

are now awash in public excitement about the ‘‘advanced ﬁelds of

physics’’ and, above all, about quantum mechanics. One some-

times has the feeling that much of the general public, ranging

from New Age gurus to playwrights, from literary critics to fu-

turistic economists, and on and on, have decided, as the phrase

goes, that quantum mechanics is much too serious to be left to

the physicists. As a physicist, I look at this curious development

with a mixture of enthusiasm, amusement, and dismay. The dis-

may comes about because the theory is being asked questions

that neither it, nor any other scientiﬁc theory, is designed to an-

swer. Quantum theory is not New Age mysticism, it is hard sci-

ence. Bell’s theorem is not a mantra, it is a theorem. The Ein-

stein-Podolsky-Rosen experiment is not done in ashrams, it is

done in physics laboratories.

When, as a writer, my level of dismay is high enough I do

something about it. I write. But how? For me, the most conge-

nial way of communicating science has been through the me-

dium of the proﬁle. When I wanted to learn something, both for

my own sake and for that of a potential reader, I would pick out

one or more individuals who were identiﬁed with that ﬁeld of

work and go and talk to them—sometimes for hours, sometimes

for days, and sometimes for weeks. Or I would read about them

in such detail that, by the end, I was almost talking to them. That

is what this book is meant to feel like—a series of conversations

carried on, on the readers’ behalf and my own, about the deep

vii

PREFACE

issues of quantum mechanics. Hence the odd title Quantum Pro-

ﬁles. After reading this book I hope that the reader will have a

real sense of what these issues are and also what they are not.I

hope that these proﬁles convey the ‘‘intellectual and emotional

excitement’’ of this enterprise, but do so honestly, without any

compromise in scientiﬁc integrity. I also hope they are fun to

read. They gave me much joy to write.

While I cannot personally thank Einstein and Besso, the sub-

jects of the last of these proﬁles, I can thank John Wheeler and

John Bell, the subjects of the ﬁrst two. Both of these remarkable

men spent hours talking to me, and sometimes, as I was writing

these proﬁles, I could almost hear them talking to each other. I

would also like to thank several colleagues who made comments

on the writing at various stages. They include L. Brown, S. Cole-

man, G. Feinberg, M. Gell-Mann, D. Mermin, A. Pais, and

A. Shimony. I have learned much from them as well.

New York

February 1990

viii

Quantum Proﬁles

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